


Eight Days in the Country

by Small_Hobbit



Category: Spooks | MI-5
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:13:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 50
Words: 22,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22882321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Small_Hobbit/pseuds/Small_Hobbit
Summary: When a man called Hazledene comes to Harry Pearce, concerned the technology his company produces is being misused, Harry sends Adam to join the company and look for the leak.  At the same time there is something suspicious happening in a village near to where the company is situated and it will be Lucas' job to find out what's going on.
Relationships: Adam Carter/Lucas North
Comments: 106
Kudos: 12





	1. Tuesday

**Author's Note:**

> Written for DW's Inspiring Tables 50 prompts challenge.
> 
> The first prompt, unsurprisingly, is Begin

“What do you reckon Harry wants to see us about which is so urgent we need to be in at eight o’clock PROMPT?” Lucas emphasised the ‘prompt’ so the capitalised word in Harry Pearce’s message was unavoidable.

“I have absolutely no idea,” Adam replied. “Something else he’s suddenly got a bee in his bonnet about.”

“If he mentions biscuit crumbs on the floor encouraging mice again, I shall suggest he gets a cat.”

“I’d rather you didn’t. Not first thing in the morning.”

They were both still laughing as they walked onto the Grid at eight precisely. The laughter died as they saw Harry, Ros and two others, neither of whom they recognised, sitting at a table waiting for them.

“Now that you are here,” Harry said, “we can begin.”

Adam and Lucas sat down.

“We have a problem for which we need you to go undercover, Adam. This gentleman,” Harry indicated the man sitting on his left, “runs a small technology company and he believes someone, and possibly more than one person, is making use of their technology in ways which they shouldn’t be, and which could very well be detrimental to the country. We need you to go in and discover who he, she, or they are.”

“You will be coming in as my Business Development Advisor, on temporary loan from one of my other companies, and will be given access to everything you need,” the man said.

“At the same time, we believe there are people outside the firm who are sending information to an unfriendly foreign power. It may all be connected, it may not. The source appears to be a nearby village, and we have arranged for you to be renting a property there. This is where you come in, Lucas. You will have come with your partner, or however you term him, because your job enables you to work from home. You will establish yourself in the village and see what is going on. Ros will give you both your dossiers.”

Harry stood up and nodded to the two newcomers, who followed him into his office.

“When do we begin?” Adam asked Ros.

“Harry wants you down there tomorrow evening, so you can begin work first thing the day after. You’ll need to go through the dossiers today and raise any queries. Tomorrow you’ll need to pack and buy anything extra you’re missing. The house will be fully furnished, and there’ll be food in there to get you started.”

Lucas and Adam looked at each other. 

“If only it had been just about biscuit crumbs,” Lucas said.


	2. Wednesday Midday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Touch

“Are you nearly ready?” Adam shouted up the stairs to Lucas. “I thought I’d do us a decent lunch and then we had best be leaving.”

“Um, almost,” Lucas shouted back.

The reply didn’t sound all that convincing to Adam, who ran up the stairs to find Lucas surrounded by clothes and books, just picking things up and putting them down again.

“Almost, as in I’ve taken everything out that I might want to pack, but haven’t actually made any decisions yet?”

“Something like that,” Lucas agreed. He opened a book and ran his fingers over the illustration, before searching through a pile of books, selecting another and repeating the process.

“We’re only going for three months at most.”

“I know.” Lucas gathered up a number of books and hugged them to his chest. “But how do I decide which ones to leave behind?”

Adam thought for a moment. “Tell you what, I’ll pack your clothes. You pack three boxes of books, and no more and you’ve got half an hour.”

“Right!” Lucas nodded.

Since most of Lucas’ clothes were variations on a theme, it wasn’t difficult for Adam to pack them. And if either of them did find they needed something else, they weren’t that far away from a big enough town that they couldn’t go and buy things. Which, Adam reflected, almost certainly meant there would also be a bookshop, and they’d be returning home with even more books than they’d started with.

Adam rather liked watching Lucas pack his books. There was clearly some method employed, because he would select a book, hold it and then, as if something was being conveyed through his fingers, decide which box it was going in. In less than half an hour they were done. 

Adam produced a roll of packing tape and taped the boxes shut, just in case Lucas decided to start repacking while he was making lunch. He wasn’t too surprised to see Lucas slide a few more books into the suitcase which contained his shirts and other clothing which Adam hadn’t want to crease, and finally two small books into his coat pockets. He didn’t bother complaining.

They carried everything downstairs, and, once they’d eaten lunch, they loaded up the car and drove away. Ros and Jo would be keeping an eye on the property in their absence, because, depending on what they found, they wouldn’t be able to come back until the job was finished.


	3. Wednesday Late Afternoon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Future

They reached the village in late afternoon. Adam parked the car and they went inside to look around. The house had been built within the last five years and was one of five in a plot on the edge of the village. The decoration was tasteful, and the furniture was of reasonable quality, although it appeared as though someone had simply looked through a website and ticked off the articles required.

There was food in the kitchen, but apart from bread, coffee and some dairy products it comprised frozen meals.

“We will need to go shopping tomorrow and get some decent food in,” Adam said. “Or maybe you could do it, since I have to begin my role as Business Development Advisor.”

“There’s a village shop,” Lucas said dubiously.

“Probably better if you drop me off at work and then drive into a nearby town, and just use the village shop for sundries,” Adam replied. “Let’s get our stuff out of the car.”

They unpacked, and Lucas took over the second bedroom for his books. They had brought their own bedding, so Adam remade the bed and then went to see how Lucas was progressing.

He found him staring out of the window.

“Are you okay?” Adam asked.

Lucas sighed. “Yeah. I’m just wondering what my future is here.”

Adam hugged him. “You’re here as my partner, and I’m delighted to have you with me; it’ll make my job easier.”

“I know. And I’ll do everything to help you, you do know that?”

“Of course. So what is it?”

“Look at this place. It’s soulless. There aren’t any bookshelves. How can you provide a house without bookshelves? Look out of the window. All these delightful, pseudo rural properties. No doubt full of pseudo rural people. And I’m supposed to get to know them. Harry knows I’ll have nothing in common with them, so why on earth send me here?”

“You aren’t just thinking of your future for the next few months, are you? You’re wondering about your future on the Grid.” Lucas didn’t reply, but his expression confirmed Adam’s thoughts. “And you think Harry’s sending you here to get you out of the way.”

“Yes, that’s about it.”

“Well, don’t let it concern you. Ros was adamant she wanted you here with me, and I can’t see her agreeing to this when it’s left her shorthanded with the two cases she’s working on at the moment. She thinks it’s going to turn nasty, and there’s no-one I’d rather have in a fight than you.”

Lucas gave a wan smile. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be acting like this.”

“I understand. You’re the one with no definite direction, being dumped in what I agree is a totally uninteresting environment. However, you do have one vital task to undertake tomorrow, which is to go shopping and get us some proper food to eat.”

“A task I shall very willingly undertake.”


	4. Thursday morning (Adam)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: past

As agreed, Lucas dropped Adam off at the technology company before driving on to the nearby town. Adam watched him go with a sense of foreboding. Not that he had any concerns regarding Lucas and the shopping, but he would have preferred to have his partner with him in this investigation. As the new arrival he would inevitably attract attention and a second pair of eyes and ears would enable them to see what was going on beneath the surface.

He turned and strode purposefully towards the main entrance. There he was greeted by a receptionist, who told him Mr Hazledene would be with him shortly. Adam stood quietly to one side, watching as a couple of other employees arrived and were buzzed through.

Hazledene came into the entrance hall and greeted Adam, before taking him to his office. To Adam’s surprise he didn’t sit down, but said, “I had hoped to be able to show you around, but I need to get back to London sooner than I expected. I’ve asked my deputy to take over, introduce you to the staff, and deal with access fobs and such like.”

With that he led Adam across the main floor of an open plan office and, stopping before a desk at the far end, said, “Richard, this is Andrew Coleman, our new Business Development Advisor. Andrew, this is Richard Frost. I’ll leave you two together.”

The two shook hands, and Frost said, “I’ll show you around.”

It soon because apparent to Adam that most of the staff he met had not been in their posts for long. Even Frost had only been there for nine months. On the one hand, it made his supposed job more plausible; the business was clearly growing fast and needed to be kept on track. But on the other hand, it would make his actual job harder. Reading the dossier, he had gained the impression someone was using the technology which they had been involved with for several months, and the instigation came from inside the company. However, if the people responsible had only recently been hired then it implied an external operation. It would mean delving into the past histories of the employees.

He sat down at his own desk and, whilst apparently making some preliminary notes, began gnawing at the problem before him. Why exactly had Harry sent them down there, and how much more was going on that originally met the eye?


	5. Thursday morning (Lucas)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Cherry

Lucas drove to the nearby town, parked at one end and began to walk along the main high street. He had noted a supermarket on his way in and planned to stop there on the way back to buy anything he was unable to find in the smaller shops.

Halfway down the street he was delighted to find an independent bookshop and instantly went inside. He was conscious of the need to remain in character at all times when he was outside the house, but felt it was entirely reasonable for someone who worked from home to have a liking of bookshops. He would need to remember to only buy one book on his first visit though, rather than the three or four which he would normally manage.

He began to browse and, having checked out the literature and poetry section, he moved into the section dedicated to science. He became aware the bookseller was standing behind him and turned round. 

“Are you after anything in particular?” he asked.

“Not really, I was just looking,” Lucas replied.

“There’s a library in the next street. You might be better looking there.”

“Oh, right.” It seemed very strange to Lucas that a bookseller would not want to sell their books. He was tempted to walk straight out, but a combination of wanting one of the poetry books he’d seen plus a desire to see how the bookseller reacted when he failed to leave immediately, caused him to take his time.

He bought the book and continued along the high street to where he found a butcher’s shop. He went inside. Here, by contrast, the butcher was happy to sell to him, so he bought meat not only for the next few days but some for the freezer as well.

Still mulling over the strange behaviour of the bookseller, Lucas headed back towards the car, stopping at a baker’s he had seen. There he bought two freshly baked loaves, a chocolate cake, a cream doughnut to make up for the disappointment of the bookshop, and a large cherry pie for their dinner that evening.

Glancing across at the bookshop on his way back to the car, Lucas noticed two people looking at the display in the window. He wondered whether they would receive the same frosty welcome he had done. And then he realised that there were a couple of subtle differences in the display from when he had been there. He didn’t want to risk being seen taking a photo, so hurried back to the car, where he made a rapid note of the changes.

He made a quick stop at the supermarket and then drove back to the house. He would have an early lunch and then begin work on his own assignment by starting to explore the village.


	6. Thursday afternoon (Lucas)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Hyacinth

Lucas reasoned that it would be quite acceptable for a newcomer to the village to spend an afternoon wandering around fairly aimlessly. Not that he would be aimless, but that was the impression he would be hoping to convey. 

He began by taking the road into the centre of the village. There was a small village square, although it was more of a triangle, since it was set where the road forked, with the post office and shop, together with the pub, at the far side of the triangle. Lucas had decided to postpone calling in at both those establishments, since there would be plenty of time to do so later in the week, and instead chose the narrower of the two sides of the fork.

It wasn’t a pretty village, being a mixture of older buildings, those built in the 1950s and 60s, and more recent additions, all muddled up together. He walked along, looking at the gardens and wondering whether they would tell him something if he knew more about flowers. He was standing, staring at one such flower when a woman walking a dog spoke to him.

“Can I help you?” she asked.

“Oh, no. No thank you,” he said. “I was just looking at that flower. I thought they flowered at Christmas not in the spring.”

The woman laughed. “I can see you’ve never been a gardener. That’s a hyacinth. You can get them in pots for Christmas – then they’re specially forced. But outdoors you’ll find they flower in the spring.”

“Thank you. You learn something new every day.”

“Have you just moved in? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

“We’re renting one of the properties on the other side of the village.” Lucas waved a hand vaguely to indicate the general direction.

The woman nodded her head. Her dog tugged at its lead and she smiled. “I must get on. Nice to meet you. I’m sure we’ll meet again if you carry on wandering around the village. I’m out every day giving this one her exercise.”

Lucas smiled in acknowledgement and she departed. He continued with his exploration of the village, and, once satisfied he’d got a good basic knowledge of the village layout, he made his way back to the house. There he took out the large-scale map of the village which Ros had given him and made various notes on it. Having done that, he saw, to his delight, it was time to go and pick up Adam.


	7. Thursday evening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Taste

Lucas cooked dinner that evening, to give Adam a chance to unwind. By common consent they didn’t discuss anything of significance whilst they ate, and Adam listened happily as Lucas described the hyacinths he had seen on his tour of the village, as well as his delight at having found an excellent butcher and baker.

When they had finished eating, Adam said, “Those were among the best chops I’ve ever tasted. You did well.”

“All I had to do was make sure they didn’t burn,” Lucas replied. “That they didn’t need any special sauces to improve the flavour is testament to the butcher. I’ve bought a number of other items from him, so, if nothing else, we shall eat well for the next week.”

Adam laughed. “I look forward to it. Well, if you’re ready, shall we compare notes? Do you want to go first?”

Lucas outlined the results of his exploration of the village, and in particular three properties which seemed to have a higher level of security than he would have expected. He also described his experience in the bookshop.

“It wouldn’t be the first time you’ve felt less than welcome in a bookshop,” Adam said.

“Yes, but that’s normally the person at the till who’s really not interested in what I’m buying. This time I got the distinct feeling I was unwanted and intruding. And why change two books in the middle of the window display?”

“They were the only copies, and somebody wanted to buy them?”

“The shop had no customers!”

“Fair enough. We’ll add it to the list of oddities for now. My major problem, apart from being dropped in the deep end by Hazledene, is that there are very few employees who’ve been there for more than six months. I’ll get Malcolm to look into their backgrounds, but I can’t see how that’s going to help.”

“You’re concerned about Hazledene, aren’t you?”

“Yes, it seems plausible he might have had to return to London, but even so, I’m surprised his departure couldn’t have waited an hour while he gave me the basic tour; it’s hardly a large establishment.”

“What do you plan to do about it?”

“Nothing as yet. Hopefully, he’ll be back tomorrow, and I’ll be able to talk to him. I need to do that to bolster my cover story as well. A couple of the employees asked which directions we were looking at developing, which isn’t an unreasonable question. I flannelled, and said I was initially getting a general feel for the company, but that can’t go on for long.”

“I can see your problem. Hopefully tomorrow will bring some clarity there at least.”

Adam sighed. “The trouble is, I’m not convinced it will.”


	8. Friday morning (Adam)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Immediate

Once again, Adam got Lucas to give him a lift to work. Lucas had offered to let him have the car, since he was planning on spending the day in the village, but Adam had said he’d be happier knowing Lucas had access to transport should he need it.

Adam walked into the office, and greeted those who were already there, before sitting down at his own desk. Immediately he noticed that it wasn’t quite the same as when he had left it. He wondered whether a cleaner had been in, but a quick glance at the carpet told him that wasn’t the case.

He had left a pad of paper there and saw that it had rifled through. He wasn’t particularly concerned; he hadn’t written anything which would incriminate him in there. The notes he’d made weren’t secret, simply outlines of the different roles within the company and some vague spider diagrams showing how different individuals related to each other. None of which were in anyway secret, which made it all the more peculiar.

He thought it unlikely anybody suspected the real reason for his presence, but it was possible one of the employees was concerned that Adam’s presence would lead to a threat to his own position. He was just considering this when Richard Frost called out, “Oh, Andrew, Mr Hazledene rang earlier. He asked me to tell you he won’t be in today, but could you meet him at half eight on Monday.”

“Thank you.” Adam groaned. “Just what I want, an early start on Monday morning.”

Adam’s immediate reaction to the news was to contact Ros, to tell her things were not going as planned. But that would need to be done circumspectly, so he would have to wait. Instead, he decided to see if he could work out who had been rummaging around on his desk.

“Has anyone got a rubber I can borrow?” he asked. “I was sure I had one yesterday, but it doesn’t seem to be here now.”

He was used to picking up subtle signs of tension, but there was nothing. One of the women offered him the use of her rubber, so he went across and took it, promising to return it afterwards.

“If you don’t, I’ll know where to look for it,” she said. 

After another half hour, Adam went to the gents, and sent a quick text message to Lucas, to get him to contact Ros. They had agreed various coded phrases, so Adam’s apparently innocuous message would alert Section D to the potential problem.


	9. Friday morning (Lucas)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Chocolate

On Lucas’ return from taking Adam to work, he settled down to some research. It was possible that whoever was passing on the information was living a very secluded life within the village, but from what Section D had found it implied details were being passed from person to person. The likelihood was that this was being done via normal village interactions, in such a way that no-one suspected what was happening.

So Lucas’ task was to establish where these interactions were taking place, and find the activities it would be reasonable for him, as a newcomer to the village, to join in with. Jo had suggested mothers at the school gate, but that was one idea he’d immediately crossed off his list. He began by trawling through the internet to find possible meeting places and events in the village. He was noting down a list of activities held at the village hall when he received the text message from Adam. He bookmarked the page and phoned Ros.

“Hi, Lucas,” Ros said, “how’s life in the country.”

“Okay, I suppose. The walls seem pretty solid.”

“Perfectly solid. The connection is quite secure, our people have put it all in.”

“Good. I was wondering. Adam’s sent me a message to say Hazledene’s not in again today.”

“Damn! Did he say why?”

“Adam didn’t get to speak to him, he was told by one of the other employees.”

“We’ll do a fuller search on him. Harry muttered something about Hazledene possibly getting cold feet, but if that’s the case we’ll want to know why.”

“Also, Adam said, and I quote ‘when you go to the shop can you get some staples, my stapler’s empty’.”

Ros laughed. “Does that mean what I think it means?”

“Probably. Someone’s been moving things on his desk, and not just nicking his staples.”

“I’ll relay the message to Malcolm, he’ll appreciate it. Was there anything else?”

“That’s all for now.”

“Malcolm says he should have a preliminary report for you by mid-afternoon. We’ll contact you sooner if there’s anything urgent.”

“Ta!”

Lucas stood up and stretched. He had been meaning to visit the village shop, so he might as well take a stroll down there now. He grinned to himself. He had intended to buy some chocolate, and now he would buy some staples too. When they were on the Grid Adam was always complaining people were using his stapler and returning it empty, so a new box wouldn’t go amiss.


	10. Friday afternoon (Adam)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Minor

Without any guidance from Hazledene, either for his supposed job of business development or for his actual job of discovering the leak, Adam was beginning to get frustrated. He was starting to wonder whether he could reasonably finish work early, since it was a Friday afternoon, when one of the women came over to speak to him.

“Hi, Andrew,” she said, “I’m Alice. Did Mr Hazledene mention a project Richard and I have been working on? I’m not sure whether it’s in the direction you’re thinking the company should be going, but, well, it would be good to think you’d at least considered it.”

“I’m not aware of anything. I’ll certainly have a look at it.”

“You have access to the company file hosting, don’t you? It’s all in there. This is what the folder is called.” 

She wrote down the name on a post-it and gave it to Adam.

“Thank you. I’ll have a look at it.”

Adam found the folder, opened it and began to scan through the documents. Then he stopped and started to read more thoroughly. These documents appeared to be referring to the technology which Hazledene was saying was being misused. Adam continued to work his way through them, pausing every so often to check back. 

He had started to notice that occasionally there were minor differences. He wished Lucas was with him, for he was much quicker at spotting patterns than Adam was. Specific changes were meticulously logged in one of the supporting documents, with the initials by whoever had made the changes, either RF, for Richard Frost, or AW, for Alice Webster.

But there were no records of someone deliberately making the minor differences Adam had spotted. He wondered if perhaps they had been simply typos, or whether a line had been accidentally copied incorrectly. Every document recorded when it was first uploaded, and by whom, and every following re-uploading. In every case that Adam was looking at, although the documents had originally been uploaded by either Richard or Alice, the subsequent replacement upload had been by Richard.

Carefully, Adam made cryptic notes of what he had found. Downloading the documents would arouse suspicion, but he hoped the notes would be sufficient. Then folding the sheet of paper over, he made some more general notes which he screwed up and threw into the rubbish bin, at the same time discretely pocketing his actual notes. That way, if anyone did choose to investigate what he was doing they would remain none the wiser.


	11. Friday afternoon (Lucas)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Tulip

Having visited the village shop in the morning and made a note of the activities which were happening in the village that weekend, Lucas decided he would take another stroll round the village. Malcolm had confirmed two of the addresses Lucas had queried were now under surveillance, but the third one had so far revealed nothing of interest to Section D. Lucas thought he would take another look at the bungalow to see if he could spot anything.

He was standing looking at the garden, admiring the flowers when the owner came out. To Lucas’ surprise it was the same woman who had told him about the hyacinths the previous day.

“Good afternoon,” the woman said cheerfully. “I see you’re looking at flowers again.”

“Yes,” Lucas agreed. “Those tulips are wonderful colours. I’d always assumed tulips were either red or yellow, but these blooms are combinations of both. You were right, there’s a lot I don’t know about flowers.”

“I’m glad you like them. Are you planning on doing any gardening yourself while you’re here in the village?”

“No, it’s unlikely. We’re renting, so there doesn’t seem any point in planting flowers that we won’t get to see bloom.”

“Even if you’re only here for a few months you could get yourselves some bedding plants for the summer. There’s a garden centre a couple of miles south of the village which has plenty to choose from. Or, if you were interested, there’s a sale of plants being held at the church tomorrow afternoon. You might find something there that you like.”

“Thank you. Yes, I might take you up on your suggestion. I’m not sure how good I’ll be at growing the plants though.”

“If you buy them at the church sale the sellers will give you plenty of advice, rather more than you’ll get at the garden centre.”

Lucas grinned. “In which case I’d say you’ve persuaded me.”

“See you tomorrow then!” The woman smiled, and she and her dog departed on their afternoon walk.

Lucas felt slightly discomforted. He felt she’d been looking at him rather more shrewdly than he’d expected from an older woman in a village. It was true he had been fascinated by the beautiful colours of the tulips, but he’d only been there because he’d been interested in the property. At least now he knew who the occupant was, and, if necessary, he could get Adam to keep a discrete eye on her if they came across her again.

In the meantime, he now had the perfect excuse for going to the church plant fair and starting to make contact with some of the other villagers.


	12. Friday evening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Stay

Lucas greeted Adam cheerfully as he picked him up later that afternoon. “How’s your day been? Did it get any better?”

“I’ve got some possibilities to follow up,” Adam replied, “but every time I find something it seems to lead to more questions. My gut tells me there’s something very odd going on, but sadly it’s not telling me what direction to look in.”

“Yes, I had that feeling. Malcolm’s report is through, but it doesn’t tell us anything particularly useful. They seem to be facing similar problems to us.”

“Well, I can give you a hand with checking out the village this weekend. Have you found anything we should go to this evening?”

“There’s a couple of groups meeting in the village hall, but neither of them sound like things we’d be naturally drawn to, so the only option is the pub. They do food, so we could go there for a meal.”

“I’d prefer to stay in, if that’s okay with you?”

“I was hoping you’d say that. There’s a shepherd’s pie in the oven, I was going to put it in the fridge for later in the weekend if we’d gone down the pub.”

“Excellent, that suits me perfectly.”

As they walked into the house Adam said, “That smells great.”

“Good. I’ll have it on the table by the time you’ve had a wash and changed.”

By mutual agreement they chatted about other matters while they ate, disagreeing cheerfully about where they should take their next holiday – an ongoing subject for debate they’d be having over the past few weeks.

When they had finished, Adam took the bottle of wine he had opened, and they adjourned to the sofa. Adam told Lucas about his day and how he felt that, although the amendments were pointing towards Frost, he sensed this was a deliberate bluff.

“Could it be a double bluff?” Lucas asked.

“It’s possible, but that’s not what I sense. And although the records show the documents were uploaded by Frost’s computer, it doesn’t mean he was the one using it.”

Lucas nodded in agreement, and then told him about the woman in the bungalow.

“You’re getting very knowledgeable about flowers,” Adam laughed.

“Oh, and we’re going to the church plant sale tomorrow afternoon,” Lucas added.

“That’s different. I don’t remember church plant sales being on Jo’s list of the five best ways to meet people in a village.”

“You can laugh if you like, but we have a reason for going and we might get some more connections by doing so.”


	13. Saturday morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Lust
> 
> Brief mention of sex

“So, what are your plans for today?” Adam asked, as Lucas came into the bedroom carrying a tray holding two mugs of coffee and a plate of toast and jam.

“The plant sale starts at two, and I imagine it’s a good idea to get there reasonably early. Other than that there’s a football match on the field by the village hall this afternoon. I can’t say it really appeals, but we might get to meet some people. And we should go to the pub.”

“I’m of the same opinion as you about the football match. I’m assuming it’s an adult team?”

“Yes, against one of the other local villages. There’s a notice up in the shop.”

“So how about we time our visit to the pub to coincide with when the footballers come in for a drink? Or is there a bar at the village hall?”

“No, there isn’t.”

“Excellent. You said they do food at the pub. Which means if we feel it would be worth going back again later, we could make enquiries about meals and arrange to do so. All perfectly natural.”

“Sounds like a plan. Which just leaves this morning. Is there anything you want to do?”

“I did have one thought.” Adam pulled Lucas’ t-shirt up and smeared a little of the jam from his toast over Lucas’ nipples, before licking it off.

“Hmm, yes,” Lucas murmured. “I must admit to having some lustful thoughts while I was making breakfast. But you’ll need to finish eating first. We don’t want toast crumbs in the bed.”

Adam laughed. “That is normally my line.”

Lucas ran his fingers up Adam’s chest. “I know!”

“Right, well, clear the tray out of the way. I don’t want to find I’m lying in a pool of coffee either.”

Lucas chuckled and did as directed, before stripping off the t-shirt and boxers he’d put on to make breakfast. Adam pushed the duvet onto the floor and ostentatiously brushed the sheets to remove any toast crumbs, before Lucas threw himself on top of him. They wrestled for a while, each trying to end up on top, whilst at the same time kissing and running their hands over each other.

“I’m not going to last much longer,” Adam groaned.

“Me neither,” Lucas replied.

They rolled over so they were lying facing each other. Each took the other’s cock in their hands and brought them to climax. Then they lay back on the bed with identical sighs.

“Lucas North, have I told you how much I love you?” Adam said.

“The feeling is completely mutual.”


	14. Saturday afternoon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Lilac

Lucas and Adam left the house shortly before two o’clock to walk to the village.

“Do you know where the church is?” Adam asked.

“Of course, I do. I’ve spent the last two afternoons walking round the village getting a complete map in my head,” Lucas replied.

To demonstrate his mastery, Lucas then led Adam through a maze of small passageways which brought them out by the side of the church.

“There has to be an easier way to get here,” Adam complained.

“Well, yes. You walk down the main road and until you reach the side road which comes out just opposite the church.”

“Okay, you’ve made your point. Lead on then. You’re the gardener!”

They entered the churchyard and walked round to one side, where tables had been set up for the plant sale. A few people gave them curious glances, but most ignored them in favour of buying the plants they wanted before someone else got them.

“What are we after?” Adam asked.

“I don’t really know,” Lucas replied. “Some bedding plants maybe? Or what about those?” He pointed at some leafy plants that had attracted his attention.

“These are tomato plants,” the stallholder said.

“Don’t we need a greenhouse to grow tomatoes?” Adam said dubiously.

“Nah, get yourself a growbag and you can grow three plants in one quite successfully. They’re the cherry variety,” the man replied.

“I like those,” Lucas said. “I think we should get some.”

“I can sell you a growbag cost price if you want one as well.”

“Thank you.” Lucas handed over the money and then looked at Adam.

“Leave your plants here,” the man said, guessing Lucas’ thoughts, “and collect them when you’ve finished looking round.”

They continued round, until Lucas saw the woman he was now thinking of as Tulip Woman behind one of the other tables.

“Hello,” she said, “I’m glad to see you made it.” She looked at Adam, before adding, “and this is?”

“My partner,” Lucas replied.

“Nice to see you. Have you bought anything yet?”

“Three tomato plants,” Adam said, somewhat wryly, “and a grow bag.”

“I don’t suppose I’ve got anything of interest to you?”

Lucas pointed at one of the plants. “What’s that?”

“It’s a lilac. You could grow it in a pot and take it with you when you leave.”

“We’ll do that,” Lucas said cheerfully. 

He bought the plant and then carried it across to where he had bought the tomato plants. The seller moved the three plants round so the lilac would fit into the same box to enable Lucas to carry them all. Adam picked up the growbag.

They then wandered slowly back to the house, carrying their purchases.

When they got back, Adam said, “I can’t wait to see you justifying the cost of one lilac, three tomato plants, and one growbag as essential purchases for establishing our personas in the village to Harry.”

Lucas laughed. “I think I’ll pay for them myself!”


	15. Saturday evening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Planet

As they had planned, Lucas and Adam went to the pub to coincide with the footballers being there. It quickly became apparent they were unlikely to make any useful contacts, the main bar was crowded making conversation difficult, and there were few people in the smaller bar which was at the back. 

Adam leaned over and spoke to the man who was pulling a couple of pints, who he assumed was the publican. “I understand you do food here.”

“We don’t start serving until six.”

“That’s okay. We were planning on coming back. Do we need to book a table?”

“That’ll be fine. Make it after seven and you won’t have to wait long.”

“We’ll do that.”

They went back home and spent the next hour considering possible ways of continuing their investigation. Adam was fairly sure he could do nothing until he spoke to Hazledene on Monday; what he really wanted to have was access to the evidence the man was basing his suspicions on. Meanwhile, Lucas was feeling frustrated. He was sure he should be able to meet the owners of the two properties with unexpected levels of security (he was ignoring Tulip Woman for the time being – it seemed inevitable he’d bump into her every day one way or another) but as yet, he had no idea how to do so.

After bandying a few ideas around, Adam had said, “Time to go!”

For the third time that day they walked back towards the centre of the village. When they reached the village green, Lucas stopped. “Look, up there,” he said, pointing.

Adam followed the direction of his arm. “Oh yes,” he said. “That’s Venus. It’s nice to be out of the city and able to see the stars for once.”

“Venus isn’t a star, it’s a planet.”

“I know that. And you know perfectly well what I meant.”

Lucas chuckled and they continued into the pub. The footballers seemed to have all gone home. The publican remembered them and told them to take a table in the back bar and someone would be along to take their order. “There’s a board up one side,” he said, “it’s all good old-fashioned home cooking.”

They did as they had been instructed and looked at the menu.

“I think I can see why there aren’t many people eating in here,” Adam said.

“Yes, I don’t think the menus changed for the last twenty years. I think I’ll go for the scampi and chips, there can’t be that much that can go wrong with it.”

A grumpy looking girl came over to their table. “What would you like?”

“One scampi and chips, one ham, egg and chips please,” Adam said. “And two pints of Doombar.”

“You’ll have to order the drinks at the bar.”

Lucas refrained from rolling his eyes and went to order the drinks. When the food came, he felt he’d made the right decision. Adam’s egg was hard and the ham chewy.

When they’d finished eating, Adam said, “Do you want to move into the other bar? There seem to be a few people there now?”

“No, let’s go home. We can always come down to the pub again another time. The beer’s good, but I wouldn’t eat here again.”

They walked back to the house, Lucas scuffing odd bits of gravel as they did so. “We don’t seem to have achieved anything today,” he said.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Adam replied. “This morning was very satisfying, and you’ve bought some tomato plants.”

“True.” Lucas cheered up a bit. “Not a total waste then.”


	16. Sunday early morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Faith

Lucas woke relatively early on Sunday morning and slipped out of bed. He had hoped not to disturb Adam, but was unsuccessful, Adam rolling over and saying, “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, yes,” Lucas replied.

Adam opened his eyes. “And now tell me the truth.” He sat up and opened his arms in an invitation for Lucas to join him.

Lucas made a face but accepted the invitation. “I was just thinking of Gregori. If we hadn’t been sent down here, I’d have gone to light a candle for him this weekend.”

Adam pulled Lucas into a tight hug. “Oh, Lucas, I’m so sorry. I know how much that means to you.”

Lucas gave a small laugh. “It’s not as if I have a faith or anything, but he did in his own way, and he was kind to me.” Lucas took a deep breath and added, “I had thought I’d go to the local church this morning. Even if I can’t light a candle, I can always just think of him.”

“Do you know what time the service is?”

“There’s one at nine and another at ten-thirty. It was one of the things I checked out on my afternoon explorations. Not that I thought it would be a particularly good way of meeting anyone.”

“I bet Tulip Woman goes.”

“Oh undoubtably! But if I do go, it’s a personal visit, not for work.”

“Of course. Which service were you planning on going to?”

“The nine o’clock which’ll probably be three old women and a dog. The later one’s family service.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I’d like to. You have a shower while I make us some breakfast.”

As they walked down the road to the church, the village was very quiet. The only vehicle which passed them was a Land Rover, a sheepdog with its head partway out of the open passenger window.

Looking upwards they saw the clouds scudding by. Lucas pointed out some grey clouds in the distance. “Looks like it’ll rain later,” he said.

“Not for a while thought,” Adam replied. “We should get back home without getting wet.”

They reached the church at two minutes to nine. Adam pushed open the heavy wooden door and they went inside. They weren’t surprised to see the back pews were empty. However, looking up the aisle they saw two men and a woman of about their own age sitting in the front two pews.

“Rather up market from your three old ladies,” Adam muttered, as the vicar swept down the aisle to greet them.


	17. Sunday mid-morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Venerate

“Good morning,” the vicar said. He smiled but looked a little uneasy. “Welcome to the service.”

“Thank you,” Lucas said. “It’s the anniversary of a friend’s death and I wondered if I might light a candle in his memory.”

“Erm, yes, of course. Maybe after the service. In the meantime, do sit here.”

He encouraged them into a pew, leaving a gap of several pews between them and the other members of the congregation.

Adam followed the service, leaving Lucas to immerse himself in his own thoughts. Every so often he glanced up and observed those in the front. He’d been to a wide variety of services over the years, but the behaviour he was watching was one he’d not encountered before. He struggled for a while to describe it and decided the closest was veneration. He wished he had a better view of what exactly they were doing, but the vicar had ensured this wasn’t possible.

At the end of the service, the three at the front quickly left the church and Adam said, “I’ll leave you to have a few minutes to yourself,” before following them.

As Lucas went towards the front the vicar said, “Please do light a candle,” and then he too rushed out.

Lucas found a taper which he lit from the Paschal candle before lighting his own candle for Gregori. He had just finished quietly reciting Psalm 23 in Russian, when he became conscious of someone standing near him. “Oh,” he said. “I hope it’s okay. The other vicar said I could.”

“The other vicar, oh, our Reader, yes, he helps by taking some of the services,” the actual vicar said. “And that’s no problem. Is the candle in memory of someone?”

“Yes,” Lucas smiled, finding the real vicar’s welcome rather warmer than the earlier one they’d been given. “It’s the anniversary of the death of someone who was very kind to me a few years ago.”

“Would you like us to mention their name in our service this morning?” She must have seen Lucas start because she quickly added, “You don’t need to stay.”

“Oh, that would be kind, thank you. His name was Gregori.” Lucas was conscious of a tear on his cheek and hastily brushed it away. “I’m sorry.”

“Please don’t apologise. Grief hits us in all sorts of ways and time never completely heals. Do take a few more minutes here if you like. After which, it is family service, and the congregation aren’t all of the quietest variety.”

“Thank you.” Lucas turned back to the candle and thought again of Gregori, before whispering, “Enjoy your green pastures.”

Then he slipped quietly out of the church as the new congregation began to arrive.


	18. Sunday early afternoon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Lightning

Adam hadn’t got home by the time Lucas made it back, so he set about preparing lunch. After the meal they’d had in the pub the previous evening, they’d agreed they’d indulge themselves with a proper Sunday lunch, Lucas having bought a chicken at the butcher’s. He was chopping vegetables when Adam arrived.

“Are you okay?” Adam asked.

“Yes, I’m fine. After you’d gone the actual vicar turned up – the other guy was a reader, or something – and she was really understanding. So I feel a lot happier. How did you get on?”

“It was very interesting. I need to send a report and then I’ll come and make the batter for the Yorkshire puddings. I’m not letting this investigation spoil my Sunday lunch.”

After they’d eaten, they settled on the sofa, the bottle of wine on the coffee table before them.

“We seem to be making a habit of this,” Lucas said.

“Probably because the only decent thing we’ve found so far is the food you bought,” Adam replied.

Lucas laughed. “Very true, so tell me all about your adventures.”

“I don’t know how much you noticed of that service, but it was decidedly strange,” Adam began.

“I agree. I wasn’t surprised when you slipped out straight after the others. Did you get caught by the reader? He wasn’t hanging around either.”

“No, when he came out, I was standing by the church gate, as if I was waiting for you. He glanced at me but carried on, catching up with the others. I’ve put in a request for all the background information available on him, by the way.”

Lucas nodded.

“All four walked up to the village green, where the reader and the woman got into their cars. I’ve sent both licence plates for checking as well. The other two turned down one of the paths, and would you believe they live in our two suspect houses?”

Lucas laughed. “We were curious who lived there, but that wasn’t the ideal way to meet them.”

Adam’s phone pinged with a message. He opened it and said, “We have an identification of the woman. She’s Hazledene’s partner!”

Lucas swore. “And we’ve waltzed right into the middle of them meeting without knowing what we were doing. Things are getting as dark as that sky right now.” He waved an arm to indicate the black clouds they could see through the window.

As if to emphasis the point there was a flash of lightning, which illuminated the whole room.


	19. Sunday late afternoon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Thunder

Lucas had just time to brace himself before there was a loud clap of thunder. He shut his eyes and tried to stop himself from shaking. He knew it was an illogical reaction, but ever since his return from Russia he’d wanted to hide away whenever there was a thunderstorm. 

He sensed Adam move beside him and then felt the warmth of the fleece throw being wrapped around him, and Adam pulling him into his arms. They sat in silence until the storm began to move away. Lucas began to wriggle, and Adam released him from his tight embrace.

“I’ll make us some tea, shall I?” Adam said.

“Yes, please,” Lucas began, he was going to say more, but Adam interrupted him.

“And don’t start saying you’re sorry. We’ve agreed, it happens, we endure it, we carry on.” He went into the kitchen and switched the kettle on. “I seem to remember there’s a chocolate cake in here.”

“I was thinking we’d have it a teatime.”

“It’s a big cake. We could have some now and some later.”

Lucas smiled. “You’ve twisted my arm.”

Adam returned carrying a tray with the tea mugs and two large slices of chocolate cake. “Now,” he said, “as you were saying before we were so rudely interrupted, we do seem to have accidentally rushed in where angels feared to go.”

“Yes. I can’t see how we can avoid her telling Hazledene. Unless, I suppose, she’s acting behind his back.”

Adam thought for a minute. “I’d have considered the idea if I didn’t already have my suspicions about Hazledene, as it is, my money would be on her being his conduit.”

“Which means she’ll tell him about the two strangers who happened to go to the service, describe us and he’ll know at once. The only advantage we’ll have is that he’ll be slightly off balance, wondering how we knew to turn up there.”

“There is another potential advantage. If Hazledene thinks we’re onto him, he’ll want to speed matters up with the potential of his making a mistake; he won’t want to wait until we’ve found out even more.”

“I suppose it’s also possible he may suspect one of the two men from having betrayed them in some way. But I think we’re clutching at straws. Even if Hazledene does speed things up, we don’t know what’s going on, so there’s no way we can take suitable action.”

“Yes,” Adam agreed. “It’s not looking good.”


	20. Sunday evening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Stars

They had just finished their tea when Ros phoned. Adam beckoned Lucas and they sat together to listen to her.

“I’ve got some bad news,” Ros began. “You asked me to check out the reader. We’re still delving, but we’ve just heard he’s been killed.”

“What?” Lucas exclaimed.

“Yes, apparently he was involved in a car accident. The car reg was logged in a 999 call. We were onto it at once, and I’ve sent a team in. It’s just too much of a coincidence.”

“Who called the accident in?” Adam said sharply.

“A local farmer. The car had failed to take a bend and ploughed down a hill. The farmer checks out.”

“A shame about having to send a team in. It’ll make Hazledene even more suspicious.”

“Don’t worry about that. Fortunately, it’s a Sunday evening, so the emergency services have to come from a greater distance anyway. They’ll be as discrete as they can.”

“As discrete as an ambulance, at least one police car and possibly a fire engine can be,” Lucas remarked.

“No-one’s going to question emergency service vehicles and quantities of blue and white tape at an accident scene,” Ros replied dryly. “No-one else was hurt so they can do the minimum and recover the vehicle tomorrow. Just remember, there’s no reason why either of you should know anything about it.”

“We’ll stay home this evening, so even if the village grapevine starts to work, we won’t hear anything,” Lucas said.

“Very wise. I’ll be in touch again as soon as we know more. If it’s tomorrow morning, I’ll contact Lucas. Goodbye till then,” Ros said and rang off.

“It gets worse, doesn’t it?” Adam said. He saw Lucas head towards the back door. “Where are you going?”

“It’s stopped raining, so I thought I’d check and see if my plants had survived.”

Adam followed Lucas outside. Despite the heavy rain, everything was still standing. 

Adam put his arms around Lucas’ shoulders and pointed up to the sky. “Another clear night,” he said. “And this time we can see all the stars.”

Lucas leaned his head against Adam’s. “Yes, it does make a great change after the city lights. It reminds me of when we went to Devon last summer and used to wander onto the moor in the evenings.”

“Maybe we should go back there again later this summer. What do you think?”

“That would be good.”


	21. Monday early morning (Adam)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Up

Lucas drove Adam to work again. As they drew into the car park, Lucas said, “What exactly is the layout of the building?”

“The ground floor is a reception area, an empty office which Frost tells me is ready for when they expand into the next phase, and there are a number of storerooms to one side. I gather there’s also a small room which is used part-time by a couple of technicians. I’m on the first floor, which is an open plan office, and Hazledene has his office there.”

“What about the second floor? It looks only half built, as if they ran out of money before they finished.”

Adam laughed. “It was designed like that. There’s a board room plus a couple of other meeting rooms. One of those rooms opens out onto the roof. I gather the idea is to turn it into some sort of roof garden. I’d like to have a look up there, but my footsteps would be heard through the office ceiling.”

“Perhaps we should come back one evening.”

“Security is tight, so I’d like to see if there’s another way first, but we may have to. For the moment, I shall go in and act as if the most exciting thing we did over the weekend was visit the church plant sale.”

“Good luck with that. And keep in touch!”

“I will. Have no fear.”

Adam waved to Lucas as he drove away and headed into the building. 

The receptionist smiled at him and said, “Good morning, Mr Coleman. Mr Hazledene said to ask you to come straight up to the board room as soon as you got in.”

“Thank you.”

“You know the way? The lift’s over there.”

“It’s all right, I’ll take the stairs. All part of my keep fit routine!”

The receptionist laughed, but Adam felt less confident. If Hazledene had simply wanted an update on his progress, he could have waited until he reached his desk and then asked him to join him in his office. Mindful of his agreement to keep Lucas informed of anything even vaguely unexpected, he sent him a quick text. 

He reached the second floor and knocked on the board room door. Hazledene called to him to enter and he did so.

Hazledene was sitting at the board table, a pile of papers in front of him. “Take a seat,” he ordered. “Have you found anything out yet?”

“I’ve got a few leads which will be worth following up,” Adam replied, “but nothing substantial yet.”

“That surprises me. I understood you had made significant progress.”


	22. Monday mid-morning (Adam)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Under

Adam looked straight at Hazledene. “Unfortunately not.”

“Oh, I saw you’d been looking at the WYXOR files, you must have realised that someone has been tampering with them, surely?”

Adam nodded. “There did seem to be some discrepancies, but I hadn’t come to any firm conclusion.”

Hazledene produced a sheet of paper, which Adam recognised as the one he’d thrown away on the Friday afternoon. “It was careless of you to leave your notes where anyone could read them.”

“The notes on there are nothing the others in the office wouldn’t either know or could find out without any difficulty.”

Hazledene glared at him. “I had hoped we would be moving rather faster than this. Harry Pearce gave me the impression that you would be the best person for the job.”

“Harry told me to expect the job to take up to three months, he said nothing about looking for results in less than a week.

“Unfortunately, things have changed over the weekend.” Hazledene stood up. “Anyway, come this way, there’s something I want to show you.”

Hazledene led the way to one of the other meeting rooms, opening the door and encouraging Adam to go in. When Adam hesitated, he felt a blow to his back propelling him into the room. He didn’t turn round but could sense someone else had come into the room with Hazledene. Meanwhile, facing him was a man he recognised.

“I believe the two of you have already met,” Hazledene said.

“Yes, we both attended Morning Prayer at the village church yesterday,” Adam agreed.

“Precisely.”

Adam risked a glance round to see if he could get out of the room, but the third person, a man called Chris, who’d been working in the main office the previous week was standing in front of the door. 

“Restrain him,” Hazledene said. “But do it quietly, we can be heard by those who are under here. And I don’t want to attract any unnecessary attention.”

Chris quickly moved to gag Adam, and he and the other man swiftly tied his hands and feet together. Adam didn’t bother putting up a fight. He could have defeated either of them individually, and suspected he might have coped with the two, but Hazledene would certainly have joined in if necessary, and Adam preferred not to be injured at this stage.

“Right,” Hazledene said. “Chris, help Apsion to get him into one of the storerooms and then get back to the office. You can tell them I’ve asked Andrew to go and meet with a possible future partner and that he won’t be back till later this afternoon.”


	23. Monday late morning (Adam)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Down

Chris and Apsion bundled Adam into the lift, which took them down to the ground floor. Adam wondered whether the receptionist would notice anything, but she was on the phone and he guessed Hazledene had called her deliberately.

He was pushed along a narrow corridor until they reached the end, when Chris took out a bunch of keys from his pocket and unlocked a door. They shoved Adam inside and Apsion said, “You can stay there for now. I’ll be back for you later.”

The door was pushed shut and Adam heard the key turn in the lock. He had expected to be in complete darkness, but there was a small window set high in the wall which let in the light. For a moment he listened, but he couldn’t hear any sounds to indicate anyone was standing outside. He hadn’t expected them to do so; Chris would need to return to the office, and he presumed Apsion would have other the things to do before he returned for him.

Confident he was alone, he loosened the ropes which had tied him. Neither Chris nor Apsion had had much idea what they were doing and had clearly never been boy scouts. Once free of his bonds, Adam reached into his pocket for his phone, surprised no-one had thought to remove it. Looking at the screen he realised there was no signal, which he suspected was due to some form of lining in the storeroom, which was possibly also intended for conducting experiments.

He realised he would be unable to contact Lucas but knew his partner would already be aware there was a problem, since he had missed his pre-arranged check in time. Looking around, he could see he couldn’t escape via the window, so readied himself for when Apsion came back for him.

An hour later, Apsion unlocked the door. Adam lunged for him and, taken by surprise, the other man fell over. Unfortunately for Adam, Apsion had been accompanied by a second man, who was powerfully built and ready for a fight. With Apsion lying on the floor in front of him, Adam was at a disadvantage in the narrow corridor, and the second man landed a heavy blow which knocked him into the wall. Adam put up a good defence, but the man’s size and weight came to his advantage, and he soon had Adam’s arms pinioned behind his back, after which he pushed him down the corridor.

There was no-one in the reception area to observe their departure, and Adam was dragged towards a waiting car.


	24. Monday early morning (Lucas)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Smell

Lucas wasn’t entirely happy when he left Adam that morning. Too much had happened over the weekend, due purely to some very unfortunate timing. Ideally, he’d have liked to stay with Adam, but that was completely impractical and would only have raised Hazledene’s concerns even further.

Lucas was even less happy when he received Adam’s text. They had agreed a basic colour code, so, if the texts were intercepted, they would continue to look innocuous. This text simply said <Don’t forget to buy some oranges>. A warning of potential problems, which Lucas took seriously. However, there was nothing he could do, and he couldn’t let his concern for Adam prevent him from doing his own job.

He parked in the car park as before and walked down the high street. They had agreed the previous evening that he would take another look in the bookshop and see if there was, indeed, anything particularly untoward happening there. Adam’s final comment had been, “And when you buy another book, do choose something reasonably small, since we shall be packing up again in a couple of months.”

However, the bookshop notice said it didn’t open until 9.30, so Lucas quickly took in the window display and continued along the high street to the baker’s. The smell of freshly baked bread raised Lucas’ spirits and he happily joined the queue inside. When it came to his turn, he bought three loaves, one of which he asked to be sliced so it could be frozen, a bag of a dozen rolls and a box of assorted small cakes.

Suitably laden he walked back towards the bookshop. Some instinct told him it would be better to walk on the far side of the road, which meant he stopped directly across the road from the bookshop to swap his two bags over. Looking at the window display he was in no doubt; it had been changed.

There was now no question in Lucas’ mind that something was going on in the bookshop. He decided against going inside, with Adam potentially having problems it would be unwise to risk adding to them. Instead he walked back to the car, mulling over what he had learnt. He knew three books had been deliberately changed, but what exactly that signified he wasn’t sure. The titles of the three new books didn’t immediately convey a message to him. They were all reasonably popular books, and Lucas suspected that either there was an agreed code relating to the books or it was the significance of which books in the display were changed that gave the message.

Either way, there was nothing he could do for the moment. He got into the car and began the drive back to the village.


	25. Monday mid-morning (Lucas)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Hear

Lucas had expected to have received a further text from Adam by the time he reached home. There was nothing, so he allowed Adam another ten minutes while he unpacked the shopping and made himself a cup of coffee. However, as soon as the text was fifteen minutes overdue, Lucas phoned Ros.

Ros listened while Lucas updated her and then said, “Don’t do anything yet. I’ll message him using the ‘Mother’ call sign and come back to you. Stay where you are and wait until you hear from me. Do you understand?”

“Yes, of course,” Lucas snapped. “I don’t want to make things any worse than they already are.”

It was frustrating, having to sit and wait. The message from Ros would be entirely innocuous, so that anyone reading it would assume it was sent by Adam’s mother. The reply, if there was one, would tell Ros how serious the situation was, and if there was no reply it would mean there definitely was a problem; no-one ignored texts from ‘Mother’.

It was almost half an hour before Ros called back. “There’s been no reply from Adam. Malcolm can’t pick up a signal from his phone either, however he has noticed some unusual traffic coming from the location of the offices where Adam should be. He’s currently running a discrete intercept to see if we can learn anything. Give us another ten minutes but be ready to leave as soon as you hear from me again.”

Lucas did as Ros had said and waited impatiently for her next phone call.

Ten minutes later she rang back. “You’re going to have to go in. Malcolm’s convinced there are messages coming out in a basic code, probably some form of book substitution. We’re running the decoder now, but the messages are very short which is making it much harder. In the meantime, you need to go there and see if you can find Adam. The direct approach may prove the best. Have you thought of a reason for going there?”

“Yes. I’ll say he forgot his lunch. I’ve even made him a lunch box up which I can wave in proof. From what Adam told me, the receptionist should be happy to call him down to collect it. If there’s a problem, I’ll force my way in.”

“Good luck. Make sure the tracker in your car is activated and message me regularly.”

“Will do!”

Lucas ended the call and ran outside.


	26. Monday late morning (Lucas)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Sight

Lucas resisted the urge to put his foot down, which was as well, because rounding a bend in the road he found a tractor and trailer going in his direction. Fortunately, it pulled off into a driveway not much further along the road, and Lucas hadn’t lost much time. Then, as he slowed to take the turning into the car park, a Discovery, coming from the other direction, pulled in ahead of him, tyres screeching as it took the corner too quickly and then drove straight down to the main reception door.

Lucas drove into the car park and chose a space as close as possible to the main door, but between two other parked cars so he wouldn’t be noticeable. It also gave him a clear view of the Discovery, and he was able to watch two men, one of whom he recognised from the church service the previous day, enter the building.

The sight of the man from the church forced him to reconsider his next moves. He could no longer follow the original plan of heading into reception, as he would be recognised immediately. Instead, having sent a rapid text to appraise Ros of the situation, he decided to see if he could discover anything at the back of the building.

Carefully, he slipped round to one side, which Adam had told him was made up of storerooms. There were a few small windows, but they were too high up for him to look inside. He continued around the back of the building, past the office, which as Adam had said was empty apart from a few mismatched desks and chairs and a shelving unit. No doubt it was being used as a temporary furniture store until they were ready to expand into the office.

As he reached the end of the building, he heard the sound of angry voices, with someone saying, “Just shut up and get the rear door open. You’re bloody useless.”

There was a murmured reply, which Lucas couldn’t catch and then the main speaker said, “No, you’re not bloody driving, I wouldn’t trust you not to drive us into a fucking ditch.”

Lucas slipped round to see the man from the church opening the Discovery’s door and the other man hauling Adam along. Instantly Lucas charged at the man holding Adam, taking him unawares and knocking him to the ground. Adam, who was injured, but not tied, lunged at the other, pushing him into the car and slamming the door behind him.

The man on the ground tried to get up, but he’d hit his head on the concrete when he fell, and it took him a couple of minutes to come back to his senses. Lucas and Adam took the opportunity to sprint for their car, and Lucas drove away.


	27. Monday lunch-time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Dog

Lucas waited until they were well away from the building before asking Adam if he was okay.

“Yes, I think so,” Adam replied. “My ribs are sore, but I don’t think anything’s broken. Definitely cut and bruised, but nothing major.”

Lucas risked a quick glance at Adam before returning his eyes to the road. “I think you’re going to have quite a shiner,” he said. “Are you all right going back to the house, or do you want to go somewhere else?”

“Go back to the house. They clearly know we’re onto them, but equally they’ll know we’ll be in contact with Section D, and, unless they get to us very quickly there’s nothing they can do about that.” As he was talking, Adam took out his phone. “I see Mother phoned. I’ll bring her up to date.”

He sent a few rapid texts, and received one in confirmation which said, ‘Phone as soon as you get home!’

“They’re rattled,” Adam said.

“I’m not surprised,” Lucas replied. “I was rattled too!”

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

“Not a lot you could do in the circumstances. Do you reckon Ros will pull us out straight away?”

“Possibly. Clearly our covers blown. But there may still be odd things we can pick up on. I don’t think we’re going to be here for three months though.”

“No. Somehow I suspect you no longer have a job with Hazledene. Shame, I was starting to like things about the country.”

“Look on the bright side. It may mean we get to go on holiday sooner.”

Lucas laughed. After all the tension of the morning, he was happy to have Adam back with him, and no more battered than after any other job. He was starting to relax as he turned into the cul-de-sac they were living on, and then he felt the tension flood back as he saw someone walking a dog.

“Tulip Woman,” Lucas exclaimed. “What’s she doing here?”

“It looks like she’s doing a house to house delivery, probably the parish magazine or something similar. Well, we’ll just have to brazen it out.”

Lucas parked the car and leapt out to go and unlock the front door. Adam climbed out of his side, wincing slightly as he did so.

Tulip Woman walked up behind them. “Hmm,” she said, “I did wonder.”

“What?” Lucas snarled.

“You’re security forces, aren’t you?” 


	28. Monday early afternoon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Strawberry

Lucas simply stared at Tulip Woman, who continued, “My name is Fiona Henderson. I was with the Embassy in Berlin in the 1980s and you are welcome to check me out, but I think you might prefer to have this conversation inside, rather than on the doorstep.”

“Come in then,” Lucas said.

They stepped inside, but Lucas barred the way further. Fiona Henderson didn’t seem bothered and waited patiently, whilst Adam, who had taken her photo, went to contact Ros.

He returned a few minutes later, saying, “It’s okay. Malcolm says it explains a lot. Just a quick question though. Could you confirm your husband’s name and how long ago he died?”

She nodded. “Giles and five years.”

Adam grinned. “That’s what I was told you’d say. Do come in.”

Lucas continued to look at her with suspicion, but Adam shook his head. “Go and make us all some coffee,” he said. “I’m going to clean myself up and I’ll come and join you.”

“Do you want any lunch?”

“Did you get to the baker’s?”

“Yes and bought lots!”

“Bread and cheese would be good then. And ask Lady Henderson if she’d like some. Oh, and stop worrying about her; her husband was called Julian, Sir Julian in the end, and died seven years ago, but Malcolm told me the answer she would give.”

Lucas grunted, but did as Adam said. “Would you like some coffee, Lady Henderson?” he asked. “I’m getting us some lunch; would you like something to eat?”

“Thank you, coffee would be good. And please call me Fiona. As far as the village is concerned, I am simply Mrs Henderson. I have already eaten, but if you were able to give Harvey a bowl of water, he’d be very grateful.”

Adam soon joined them, and they all sat at the dining table. 

Fiona saw the bread and said, “I’m glad you’ve found the baker. He really does the best bread and cakes as well. You ought to try them.”

Adam laughed. “We already have. They were one of the Lucas’ first discoveries.”

“Indeed,” Lucas agreed. A few minutes later he stood up and went into the kitchen, returning carrying the box of cakes and an extra plate. “If you would like one,” he said to Fiona, “please help yourself.”

“Thank you, that’s very kind.” She helped herself to one of the little cakes.

Lucas, with a smile of pure happiness, took one which was covered in cream and decorated with slices of strawberry, while Adam chose one of the chocolate ones.


	29. Monday mid-afternoon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Over

“What gave us away?” Lucas asked, his mouth full of cream cake.

“Apart from arriving home looking as if you’d been in a fight, which really didn’t go with the suit?” Fiona said.

“You were already suspicious.”

“You were just that bit too observant. Most people wouldn’t have noticed, but after years in the trade, it becomes second nature. And then you went to the early service at church.”

Lucas sighed. “Yes, that really blew things out of the ground. And in fact, it was a purely personal act.”

“I did wonder. I thought at first you were part of whatever was going on. But then the reader died, and I decided something had gone wrong.”

“What did you know about this early service?” Adam asked.

“Just that no-one felt welcome if they attended. It was clear something was happening there – I suspected some sort of drug transaction, but I had no proof.”

Adam’s phone rang, and he went into the kitchen to answer it. He returned shortly afterwards and said, “It’s not over yet. Ros wants us to stay here and clear up as much as we can. Hazledene and his minions are on the move, but as yet it appears as though they’re trying to keep the rest of the operation intact. She’s said we’re to feel free to involve Lady Henderson, Fiona, if it helps, but we’re not to put her in any danger.”

Fiona snorted. “I may not be as fast or as agile as I once was, but I can still make that decision for myself. I’m not in a nursing home yet!”

“What are we left with?” Lucas asked. “The bookshop, of course.”

“And the other man at the church service,” Adam said. “The reader’s dead, Apsion, that’s the taller of the two and the one I pushed inside the Discovery, is presumably on the run, and Hazledene’s partner won’t be hanging around.”

“Bedloe,” Fiona said. “James Bedloe. If he was intending to run, I imagine he’ll have gone by now, so if he’s still in the village, we can conclude he’ll be playing the long game. What’s this about the bookshop?”

“I suspect someone is using the front window display to leave messages,” Lucas said. “Twice I’ve gone past it and the display has been changed slightly on my return.”

“Interesting, I’ve never noticed that. I shall have to have a look. I must admit the display has seemed a bit esoteric lately.” Fiona looked at her watch. “I had better be off now. I can check on Bedloe when Harvey and I go on our early evening walk and will let you know.”

She stood up and Adam and Lucas walked with her to the front door.


	30. Monday evening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Hope

Lucas and Adam spent a frustrating afternoon in the house. With no knowledge of the ramifications from Adam’s capture and rescue, they didn’t dare go out, in case they compounded matters. Ros had said she would get back to them as soon as she had some definite news, but the hours passed, and they heard nothing from her. Lucas cooked dinner, but neither felt much like eating, and, unusually, he didn’t suggest they have dessert.

Finally, just as they were giving up any hope of hearing anything until the morning, Ros phoned.

“Firstly, I have a message for you from Lady Henderson,” Ros began. “She says James Bedloe is still in the village and behaving as if nothing has happened. She also says that if you want her help, meet her at Waites Garden Centre by the roses when it opens tomorrow.”

“And you’re sure we can trust her?” Adam asked.

Ros laughed. “Malcolm says Julian Henderson would have put Harry in the shade. And although Fiona Henderson was rarely mentioned, it was understood she was probably even more capable than her husband.”

“Fair enough. What other news have you got for us? We were expecting you to have come back sooner.”

“We would have done, if there’d been anything to tell you. As it is, from what we can work out, it seems as if just one cell has shut down, but the rest of the organisation is still running. We originally thought the Hazledene’s enterprise was the central point, but it’s becoming clearer that it was only one part, and that the core is being run from elsewhere.”

“So why did Hazledene come to Harry?” Lucas asked. “Was he getting scared?”

“No, it looks like it was more of a distraction. Get us to concentrate on Hazledene’s company and while our attention is there, execute your major move elsewhere.”

“But in which case,” Lucas said, “why didn’t they brazen it out when we turned up at the service?”

“Either someone panicked, or …”

“Or we’d accidentally hit on one of the vital cogs,” Adam completed Ros’ sentence. “Which brings us back to Bedloe.”

“Correct. He’s going to be on his guard now, so we can’t make a direct move. Which means it’s even more important now to discover what’s going on in Hazledene’s company. Adam, do you think you can get Lucas in there?”

“Yes, that shouldn’t be a problem. Do you want us to try tonight?”

“No, leave it until tomorrow. It’ll give us a chance to do some more digging first.”

“Anything else?”

“See what you can find out. It might be worth checking out Hazledene’s house, but I doubt there’ll be much to be found there. I hope that we’re still in time to prevent whatever it is from happening, but to be honest we’re still in the dark as much as we were. That’s all for now. Keep in touch!”

Ros rang off, and Adam said, “I think an early night is called for, tomorrow looks as if it’s going to be busy.”


	31. Tuesday early morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Rose

Lucas had checked the opening times of Waites Garden Centre the previous evening, and so he and Adam drew up in the car park shortly after it opened. There were a few customers around, but, unsurprisingly, it was generally quiet. The website hadn’t shown a plan of exactly where all the different plants were located, but it was clear the open area was behind the main building, so they made their way through the store and out of the exit at the back. From there a sign pointed to where the roses were on display and they walked along the pathways between the other plants to reach it.

They had expected to arrive ahead of Fiona Henderson, so were surprised to see she was already sitting on a bench by an archway which was draped with a pair of climbing roses. The bench was ideally situated because they could easily see if anyone approached them.

“Good morning,” Fiona said. “From your expressions you didn’t expect me to be here yet!”

“No,” Adam agreed. “We thought we’d be ahead of everyone else.”

“Well, as I’m sure you’re well aware, it’s the little inside details which can make all the difference in the planning.” She smiled. “Anyway, enough of that. Having spoken to Ms Myers last night, I gained the impression you could benefit from the assistance of an agent on the ground, so to speak.”

“Yes, we are rather restricted in what we can do, since our cover has been blown,” Adam replied. 

“I was wondering whether I could risk another trip to the bookshop,” Lucas said.

“And I said it was too risky,” Adam answered.

“Why don’t I go to the bookshop?” Fiona said. “That’s not going to raise any suspicions, and I can use the visit to buy birthday presents for two of my great-nieces while I’m there.”

“You’re probably going to object,” Adam said, “but I’m not sure you should be going alone.”

“There’s nothing to stop you coming with me - Lucas obviously can’t - and doing a bit of shopping in the town while keeping an eye on the bookshop. There’s quite a good stationer’s just across the road, you could browse in there for a while.”

“And in the meantime, I could go and check out Hazledene’s house,” Lucas said.

Adam frowned. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea you going on your own.”

“I wasn’t planning on entering it. But it wouldn’t hurt to get some idea of what we’ll be faced with if we do want to get inside.”

Fiona nodded. “That seems wise. Whatever’s going on, I doubt you have that much time to spare, and getting as much advance information as possible would make sense.”

Adam stood up. “Right, we keep in touch with each other and with Ros. Are you ready, Fiona?”

“Yes. You two leave now, and I’ll see you in the car park in a few minutes.”


	32. Tuesday mid-morning (Lucas)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: South

Lucas turned south as he left the garden centre and drove to the village where Hazledene and his partner lived. He parked in a convenient layby and found the track which ran behind the house. 

He identified the house quite easily. There was a closed fence around it, with a number of bushes inside the fence, but they were not close enough to constitute a hedge. Lucas looked carefully, but he couldn’t see any other signs of security; it looked more as if the fence was simply to stop people from wandering away from the track and into the garden.

Lucas climbed over the fence and cautiously made his way across the garden. The area closest to the fence looked as though it had once been used to grow fruit and vegetables and reminded Lucas a little of his grandfather’s allotment, but now it seemed to be partially overgrown, with some half-hearted attempts to keep the fruit bushes alive, plus grow some herbs, most of which seemed to have succumbed to the attentions of slugs and snails.

There was a more substantial hedge at the other end of the vegetable area, which Lucas estimated cut the garden in two. Peering through the hedge, Lucas saw the rest of the garden was mostly lawn, which had been fairly recently mown, together with some untidy flower beds. Tulip Woman, Lucas corrected himself, Fiona would not have been happy if she had seen the state of the garden.

Lucas noted the house had security lights, and a reasonably upmarket burglar alarm. This surprised him, the standard of security was on a par with what would normally be recommended for a house of that size and location, but he would have expected something of a higher spec. He assumed whatever Hazledene had installed was masked by this standard system. He looked around but couldn’t see anything in his half of the garden that implied security, so he hoped he was still safe.

At that moment, he heard a car draw up and so he slid back towards the edge of the garden, from where he could still watch the arrival through the hedge. There was one car already parked in the drive, which he took to be Hazledene’s partner’s car, although he was too far away to read the number plate properly.

The driver got out of the second car, and walked briskly to the side door, which was opened and then shut as he entered. Lucas stood stock still and tried to process the man he had just seen.


	33. Tuesday mid-morning (Adam)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: North

Fiona turned north as she left the garden centre with Adam. She drove straight to the town and parked in the car park which Adam thought was the one Lucas would have used. They walked down the high street together and stopped just before the bookshop. Both turned to look at the display in the window.

“It looks quite normal to me,” Adam said.

“Yes,” Fiona replied. “There’s a theme of sorts running through and nothing untoward. Unless there’s something far more complicated going on, which seems unlikely, I’d say this was a standard display. I shall go in. Give me about fifteen minutes and then if I haven’t come out feel free to come looking. Anything less than that and I could well still be browsing. I trust that amount of time doesn’t concern you.”

Adam laughed. “Not at all. It’s nothing unusual for Lucas to spend half an hour browsing in a bookshop. Mind you, when he leaves, he’ll probably have bought half a dozen books.”

“I shan’t be that long. I need to go further afield if I want to find a bookshop of that calibre.”

Adam laughed. “I’ll start off in the stationer’s as you suggested. And, if necessary, I can wander down the street and back again. And please take care.”

“Of course!”

Adam found plenty to occupy his attention in the stationer’s, and with the shopkeeper engaged in unpacking boxes of pencils, felt in no need to hurry. He was looking through a selection of greetings cards when he spotted movement in the bookshop over the road. He watched as the bookseller leant over the front of the display and removed three books, which he replaced with three others.

Hurriedly, he took his phone out of his pocket and sent an urgent text to Lucas: ‘Get out now!’ before leaving the stationer’s to cross over the road.

He could see Fiona at the counter, so contented himself with waiting outside for her. She came out and set off up the high street at a speed which surprised Adam.

“Lucas?” she asked when they were away from the shop.

“I’ve sent him a text to get out. I’m not sure what’s going on, but he’s not safe where he is.”

“Good. Mr Reilly, he’s the bookseller, got some sort of message and went to change the display immediately. He was reasonably civil when he sold me my book, so I don’t think I was the one who prompted the change. I suppose it’s possible you’ve been recognised, but on balance, I agree with you, Lucas is the one in danger.”


	34. Tuesday late morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Danger

The phone in Lucas’ pocket vibrated. He pulled it out and looked at the message. ‘Get out now!’ Hurriedly, he jammed the phone back in his pocket and made his way back to the bottom of the garden. Once over the fence he ran down to track to his car. It was possible he would be drawing attention to himself by running, but on the assumption his presence was already known this was a risk worth taking.

He unlocked his car, got in and pulled out of the layby. It wasn’t until he was back on the main road that he began to consider what his destination should be. He could still be in danger while he was driving, although the risk would be considerably greater if he took a minor road or decided to park up. The Discovery that had been used the day before when Adam had been captured would have considerable effect if it was used to ram him.

He decided to head home as being the safest place he could be. At least he would have a reasonable chance of defending himself should an attack come.

When he reached the house, he saw Fiona’s car was parked in the drive. He pulled in beside it, got out of his car and approached the front door. As he reached the door, he heard the bolt being drawn, and Adam let him in.

“You’re okay?” Adam asked.

“Yes. I left as soon as I got your message,” Lucas replied. “What happened?”

“While Fiona was in the bookshop, Reilly, the bookseller received a message and changed the window display. I texted you immediately.”

“I was hiding in the garden of Hazledene’s house, having just seen Bedloe arrive.”

“What?”

“I don’t know whether it was a planned visit, or whether I triggered some form of security when I entered the garden. I didn’t think I had at the time, but I’ve been having second thoughts.”

They had walked into the dining room where Fiona was sitting, so she joined in with the conversation. “I’ve been thinking about Hazledene’s partner - she’s not his wife, you know. I don’t know much about her at all, but I have a feeling she knew Bedloe before she came to the area, they may even be related.”

“I’ll get onto Ros, see if she can check it out,” Adam said.

“I must get off,” Fiona said. “But there is one more thing which puzzles me. Who is picking up the messages from the bookshop? I didn’t see anyone hanging around, and someone loitering in the high street would soon be noticed. You were in the stationer’s, Adam, did anyone in there see the message?”

“Only me. The stationer wasn’t paying attention as far as I could see.”

“Which really leaves the flat above the shop.”

“Is it owned by the stationer?”

“No, they’re entirely independent, with a separate entrance from round the back. It might well be worth looking into.”

“Do you reckon we could do that this afternoon?” Lucas asked Adam.

“Most certainly,” Fiona replied. “I can drive you there, there’s a narrow lane and drop you off. I’ll pick you up at half past two, after I’ve taken Harvey for a walk.”

She went to the front door and Adam let her out.

When he returned to the dining room, he said, “Do you think we’ve seen what Ros will be like in retirement?”

“Very probably!”


	35. Tuesday early afternoon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Present

They called Ros to update her with the morning’s events. She agreed with their visiting the flat above the stationer’s and reiterated the need to look after Fiona. 

“We’re doing our best,” Adam said.

“But she’s a very determined woman,” Lucas added. “Like someone else I could mention.”

“Your point has been noted, Mr North,” Ros replied. “Maybe we should ask Lady Henderson to provide cover for me when I’m on holiday.”

Lucas groaned.

“What do you want us to do about getting into Hazledene’s office building?” Adam asked. “Do you want us to make an attempt late this afternoon? There’s a gap of about half an hour between when most of the staff leave and security arrive.”

“Yes, but be very careful. They may well be expecting something, especially now they know someone was at his house this morning.”

“Understood. We’ll keep in touch.”

Ros rang off, and while they waited for Fiona to collect them, Adam and Lucas ran through various scenarios as to what they would do when they arrived at the flat. Their basic assumption was that whoever was in the flat was relaying the message of the books onto another party and might not realise the true significance of what they were doing.

Fiona arrived at the time she had stated and dropped them off by the metal steps which led up to the flats. They made their way to the flat they wanted, and Adam knocked on the door. There was no answer.

“Well, no time like the present,” Lucas said. He produced a set of lockpicks and opened the door.

They stepped inside and carefully shut the door behind them.

“Oh, bloody hell!” Adam exclaimed.

They were face-to-face with some extremely high-tech communications equipment.

“There’s no way they won’t know we’re in here,” Lucas said. “We need to act fast.”

Adam rang Ros and, as soon as she answered, started videoing the equipment, whilst Lucas grabbed the codebooks and began scanning through them. It wasn’t long before Malcolm took over from Ros and started giving Adam instructions as to what to do. 

Adam was concentrating hard when Lucas said, “Shit! Reilly’s just changed the books in the display.”

“Why? There’s no-one here.”

They both looked round and Lucas pointed to a camera set high in the opposite wall.

“They don’t need to be,” Lucas said. “We don’t have much time.”

“Got that,” Malcolm said over the phone. “Not much more to do.”

Adam finished the reset and they ran out of the flat.


	36. Tuesday mid-afternoon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Daisy

As they ran along the passageway which led back to the metal steps, Lucas, who was in front, spotted, to his horror, the Discovery turning into the narrow lane which led past the back of the flats. He stopped and was about to point it out to Adam, when he saw Fiona’s car come to a sudden halt in front of the Discovery. She revved the engine, but nothing happened.

“We’ll have to go to her rescue,” Lucas said.

“No,” Adam replied. “She’s buying us some time.”

“But she’s in danger!”

“She’ll have worked that out for herself. Come on, the sooner we get away the sooner she can move, and the less risk she’ll be in.”

They ran down the steps and then sprinted up the lane, only moving to one side when they heard a car accelerating behind them. The car slowed on its approach and Fiona gestured to them to get in.

“Are you okay?” Adam asked, fastening his seatbelt as she accelerated again.

“Oh, yes,” Fiona replied. “Although I rather think I’ve blown my cover.”

“He might have shot you,” Lucas exclaimed.

“It was possible, but on balance unlikely. And it was a risk I was prepared to take. You must remember, young man, I still retain all my faculties, and if I wish to put myself in danger, I am fully entitled to do so.”

“I shall have to notify Ros,” Adam said.

“Of course.” Fiona sighed. “I am completely aware of the need to follow procedure. You don’t have to explain it to me.”

“And that’s told both of us,” Lucas muttered.

Adam contacted Ros and explained what had happened. He listened to her reply and then said to Fiona, “Ros thinks it would be better if you didn’t remain in the village tonight.”

“I think she has a point. Lucas, I can see your expression in my rear-view mirror. There is no point in my being in unnecessary danger. I shall make a reservation at a hotel I stay in occasionally; it’s about twenty miles away. And you can both, and I mean both, come and pick me and Harvey up at 5.45 and take us there. There is a small footpath which goes past the far end of my garden. Lucas, I assume you know the one I mean from your explorations last week.”

“Yes, I do.” Lucas said. He was tempted to add ‘ma-am’ but decided it would be wisest not to.

“There’s a patch of ox-eye daisies by my gate, so you’ll know which it is. They’re like the normal sort of daisies but rather larger. Do you have any questions?”

“No,” Adam replied. “I think that’s very clear.”

“Good,” Fiona said. “I’ll drop you off and get on. I have packing to do.”

Adam and Lucas got out of the car and watched somewhat stupefied as she drove away.

“Remind me to retire before Ros gets to that age,” Lucas said.


	37. Tuesday late afternoon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: West

Once Adam and Lucas were inside, Adam contacted Ros to tell her the latest developments. “If we both take Fiona to her hotel, then we won’t have time to get into Hazledene’s offices,” he said. “Lucas has suggested that I take Fiona, and he go ahead and hunt in there. I can draw him some accurate plans.”

“It seems like a sensible alternative. Did she mention why she didn’t want to drive herself there?” Ros replied.

“No. And I didn’t think to ask her, it wasn’t as if she was going to brook any argument.”

“Like someone else I know,” Lucas muttered.

“Tell Lucas I heard that,” Ros said. “Hang on a second, Harry’s just come out of his office. I’ll run it past him.”

There was a muttered conversation and then Adam heard Harry on the phone. “I’ve just had Lady Henderson ring me up,” he said. “She has reminded me she still has a number of influential contacts, who could make my life extremely awkward if she is unhappy with the way she is treated. Do I need to explain further?”

“No, Harry, we understand,” Adam replied.

“Good. I’ll give you back to Ros.”

“In the circumstances,” Ros said, “I think the two of you should leave entering the offices until later tonight.”

“We understand,” Adam said with a sigh.

When he finished the phone call, Lucas rolled his eyes at him. Adam shrugged. “What else can we do?”

Later that afternoon, Adam followed Lucas’ directions to the end of the footpath and parked up, while Lucas got out and followed the path until he found the clump of oxeye daisies. He knocked quietly at the wooden gate, which opened instantly.

Fiona passed Lucas her overnight case, and came out, with Harvey on his lead. She put a finger to her lips, gently pulled the gate closed, there was an audible click as it locked, and she led the way back down the footpath.

She remained silent until she was sitting in the backseat, Harvey curled up at her feet. “Thank you for coming,” she said. “Continue on down this lane and I’ll give directions to bring us out onto the main road. I think it’s wiser not to go back through the village.”

“And that’s why you don’t want to take your own car,” Lucas said. “You don’t want anyone to know you’re not at home.”

“Quite right. I’ve spoken to Mr Wynn-Jones and he has ensured full surveillance of my property, just in case I have any unexpected visitors tonight.” She paused because they were nearing the main road. “You need to turn left here. And at the next crossroads turn right. It’s a bit of a wiggly road, but if you keep heading west you won’t go far wrong.”

“But why did you insist we both come with you?” Lucas asked.

Fiona paused. “Because I think it’s safer. Call it gut instinct if you like, although I prefer to think of it as thoughts in the back of the head which haven’t yet been connected. I think for now you need to stick together.”


	38. Tuesday early evening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Hate

They had just pulled into the hotel car park when Lucas’ phone rang. “Yes?” he said.

“You’ve got visitors,” Jo’s voice announced. “I’ll get Malcolm to patch the feed through to your screen.”

“More trouble,” Lucas said. He put the phone on speaker and held it where all three of them could see, Fiona leaning forward from the back seat.

They could see two men who must have come over the back fence of their garden. One Lucas recognised as the driver of the Discovery.

“That’s Bedloe,” Fiona said, pointing to the other.

They watched as the driver expertly removed a small pane of glass in the back door, prior to opening it.

“We’ve notified the police, and there’s someone on their way,” Jo said, “although I doubt they’ll be there in time; this lot clearly know what they’re doing.” There was a pause and then she said, “What on earth?”

Malcolm switched the feed from one camera to another and they saw Bedloe bend over and pick up half a brick, which he’d found in the corner of the garden. They watched in astonishment as he pulled back his arm and then threw the brick at the dining room window, which smashed instantly.

“That’s pissed the other guy off good and proper,” Jo said. “We can’t hear him but it’s obvious he’s saying they need to leave.”

“Why would Bedloe do that?” Lucas said. “If he’d left the driver to do his work they’d have been in without any trouble and with little chance of being spotted.”

“Pure hatred,” Fiona said. “He’d always struck me as being slightly unbalanced, a little too intense about things which others would deem minor matters. You’ve come in and ruined his plans, which means he now hates you. And this is his way of showing his hatred.”

“Which makes him all the more dangerous,” Adam said. “Are you sure you’ll be safe here?”

“Oh yes. It won’t be easy for him to trace me, even if he’d wanted to. And he certainly hasn’t got the patience to find me at the moment.”

They were interrupted by Jo who said, “We’ve contacted someone to come and replace those windows, but it won’t be until tomorrow morning. Are you okay with boarding them up when you get back home?”

“Yes, we can do that. We’ll be in touch again once we’re back,” Adam said. “Thanks, Jo.”

The three of them got out of the car. Lucas picked up Fiona’s bag and they went into the hotel. The receptionist welcomed them and gave Fiona her room key, before asking if they would be requiring dinner.

Fiona looked at Lucas and Adam, who shook their heads. “It’ll just be me on this occasion, thank you. Could I have a table in half an hour’s time?”

“Certainly, madam.”

Lucas and Adam escorted Fiona to her room, and once they were satisfied that she would be safe, took their leave of her and headed back to the car, ready for the drive back home.


	39. Tuesday late evening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Wind

Lucas drove back, whilst Adam phoned Ros to discuss their next move. He learnt that Malcolm was still analysing all the data he had received from their afternoon visit to the flat opposite the bookshop. 

When the call was over, Adam turned to Lucas. “Ros is very keen we get into Hazledene’s offices tonight. It turns out the data Malcolm received is very different from what he was expecting, and he wants to do some tests with Hazledene’s side.”

“Won’t they have pulled the plug on it?” Lucas asked.

“Apparently not. At least the legitimate side is still working and Malcolm suspects that it’s still being used to cover the rest. Malcolm says the flat held one of the hubs, quite possibly the main hub, so now that one’s out of action – the power was disconnected shortly after we left – they are being forced to make do with subsidiary hubs. Of which one is in the offices.”

“Do they know where the others are?”

“Malcolm’s trying to triangulate them, but it’s not easy. He says he wished we’d known what we were getting into when we entered the flat, he’d have been better prepared.”

“That is the story of this whole job,” Lucas remarked wryly.

By the time they’d got home and boarded up the two windows, it was already dark. They left the house quietly and Adam drove them to the offices, pulling into a small lane which ran down one side of the property.

The wire fence hadn’t been well-maintained, and they managed to slip inside without difficulty. The wind was getting up and clouds were blowing across the sky, which meant there was little light around as they ran across the grounds to the back of the building. There they found a door, which Lucas managed to unlock. They slipped inside and Adam hurriedly blocked the alarm. They waited to see if anyone came to investigate, but there didn’t hear any footsteps.

“Probably blamed the alarm on the wind,” Adam whispered. “This way.”

They made their way up the stairs, and Adam let them into the small room where the main server was. Lucas held the torch, shielding the light with his body so that there was just sufficient for Adam to see what he was doing. Adam followed the instructions Malcolm was texting across - they couldn’t risk speaking - and both he and Lucas breathed a sigh of relief when Malcolm sent a thumbs up sign.

“Right, let’s get out.”


	40. Tuesday night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Safe

Lucas and Adam had made it halfway back across the grounds to where they’d entered the property when they heard a shout. They didn’t look back, but sprinted the rest of the way, through the gap in the wire fence and into the car. Adam drove away. They expected someone to be trying to follow them, and Lucas kept an anxious watch out of the rear window, but no-one came.

They made it back to their house and once inside breathed a sigh of relief. Lucas went into the kitchen to make them a drink while Adam phoned Ros to inform her that they had been spotted when they left.

When Lucas returned, bearing two mugs, Adam said, “Ros wasn’t too concerned we were seen. She thinks Bedloe would have expected something of the sort. And apparently Malcolm is delighted with the success. He’s still processing the information but thinks we’re finally onto something.”

Lucas had finished his coffee and was just thinking of suggesting they try to grab some sleep when Adam’s phone rang.

“Put my on speaker,” Ros commanded without preamble.

“Fire away,” Adam replied.

“There’s an attempt being made to enter Lady Henderson’s property. Bedloe’s one of those involved, but we’re not sure who the second is. It’s not the man he was working with earlier. We’ve contacted the police and with any luck they’ll be there before the intruders have the chance to leave. We’d alerted them earlier that we were expecting something like this to happen.”

“At least Fiona’s safe,” Lucas muttered.

“Precisely. So what we need you to do is get into Hazledene’s own house while Bedloe’s otherwise engaged. I’ll explain why when you’re on the way.”

Lucas grabbed the car keys and the two of them ran out. While Lucas drove, Adam phoned Ros.

“Right,” Ros said. “We’ve always thought Bedloe and co were sending messages from agents back to the foreign power, using Hazledene’s technology. What Malcolm’s discovered is that it’s actually messages coming in which are then being distributed round the country. The main hub was the flat in the high street, but now they’re using Hazledene’s home as a temporary measure. What we need you to do is gain access to the house so Malcolm can send our message out to the agents, after which we can pull the plug.”

“Yes, understood,” Adam said.

“So, however you do it, we need you inside that house!”


	41. Wednesday just after midnight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Rain

It had started to rain, and the sky was now completed covered in dark clouds, blocking out any light from the moon and stars. Lucas drove as quickly as he could but had to slow on a couple of occasions where the water ran across from one side to the other. He reminded himself that Bedloe would have similar problems, but it didn’t really help.

“Park up just outside the property,” Adam instructed.

“What if there are security sensors?” Lucas replied.

“Good point. Park on the other side of the road. There are houses along there, there’d be no point the alarms going off every time they had visitors.”

Lucas parked and they leapt out. The gates to Hazledene’s property were open; Lucas suspected that was because Bedloe was expecting to return and didn’t want to delay his entrance. 

Lucas led the way to the side door he’d seen being used when he was hiding in the garden the previous morning. He nodded at Adam, who took up a position opposite him and, just as he did so, the door opened.

Lucas crouched down and barrelled in, taking down the Discovery driver. Adam slipped past them and Lucas heard a shout from a female voice, and Adam reply gruffly ‘Keep quiet!’

The driver tried to resist, but Lucas made good use of the element of surprise and had him pinioned and tied up before the other man could counter-attack.

“Bring him in here!” Adam shouted.

Lucas dragged the driver into the dining room and Adam helped tie him back-to-back with Hazledene’s partner. Once they were confident the two could do nothing for the moment, they went to look for the hub.

They had expected everything to be hidden away, but on opening the study door, they saw the equipment they were searching for. Adam called Malcolm up and started following his instructions, while Lucas kept watch from the study door. Aware they might need to leave in a hurry, Lucas spotted another outside door, which was bolted and with the key left in the lock. Quietly, he walked across and unlocked and unbolted the door, before opening it cautiously and peering out to see that it led into the garden.

He returned to his post by the study door, listening out for any noises from the rest of the house. As he did so a message came through from Ros. ‘Police at Lady Henderson’s. Bedloe managed to escape.’

Lucas leant into the study and said to Adam, “Bedloe’s on his way!”


	42. Wednesday early hours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Cat

Adam continued furiously to key the information in as Malcolm instructed him.

Lucas had been watching the time, trying to estimate how long it would be before Bedloe reached the house. “He’ll be here soon,” Lucas said urgently.

“All done,” Adam exclaimed. He nodded at Lucas.

“Get out of there now!” Ros ordered. “We’ll transmit and then shut down from our end.”

Even as Ros was speaking, they heard the door open and Bedloe’s shouts as he called to the two people he knew should be in the house.

Lucas grabbed Adam’s arm and pulled him towards the outside door. As he did so, they heard Bedloe open the dining room door. He instantly screamed and then threw something in the direction of the study. Lucas yanked the door open and he and Adam ran out. There was a loud explosion and the glass from the study window was blown out.

“Where to?” Adam gasped.

“This way.” Lucas indicated a path down the side of the house, on the far side from the main door. They ran down the driveway, across the road and Lucas jumped into the car. Adam went round to the passenger seat, while Lucas started the car. As soon as Adam was in, Lucas drove away.

Adam dialled Ros, to tell her what had happened and ask her to contact the fire brigade. “Were you successful?” he asked.

“Mostly,” Ros replied. “Malcolm would have liked a further thirty seconds, but we got most of our messages out. And Bedloe completely destroyed his contact mechanism so there’s no worry of that being reactivated for the moment. It just means we’ll miss a few of their agents, although with any luck some of the others may lead us to the rest.” There was a pause and then Ros continued. “The fire brigade is on its way and we’ll send some people in to secure the property and see what else can be found.”

“Do you want us to go too?”

“No, we had people on standby in case they were needed. They can go in. Best thing you two can do is go and get some sleep and we’ll look at tying up any loose ends first thing in the morning.”

“Right, we’ll speak to you in a few hours then.”

After a few more minutes they arrived home. Wearily, they both got out of the car. Something streaked across the path which led to the front door and Lucas jumped.

“It’s okay,” Adam said. “It was only a cat.”

Lucas sighed in relief. “Thank goodness for that. Come on, let’s go and grab some sleep.”


	43. Wednesday Early Morning (Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: East

Lucas was up and making coffee when he received a phone call from Ros.

“Our team found two people in Hazledene’s house – one man, one woman, but Bedloe wasn’t with them,” Ros told him. “The two were taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation and we shall be interviewing them this morning.”

“What’s your reading of the situation?” Lucas asked. “Do you think Bedloe will come after us?”

“Not yet. Malcolm thinks one of the cells is still intact. My guess is Bedloe will try to contact them first.”

“So we need to find him before he finds us?”

“That about sums it up.”

“Right. I’ll let Adam know.”

Lucas took the coffee upstairs and told Adam the news.

“Great,” Adam groaned. “Where do you suggest we start?”

“The one place we have yet to properly investigate is the bookshop. We could try an early morning call, see if that pays off.”

“Give me fifteen minutes and we’ll be off.”

Adam drove them to the town. 

He was about to park in the usual car park, when Lucas said, “There’s a small car park by the library, and there’s a covered passageway from it to the high street a couple of shops down from the bookshop. It should be almost empty this time of day.”

Adam drove down the high street, following Lucas’ directions, until Lucas suddenly said, “Stop!”

They pulled up outside the bookshop and Lucas peered through the window at the display. “That’s odd. There’s a gap in the display.” He read the titles of the books either side of the gap. “ _Of Mice and Men_. _The Grapes of Wrath_. That’s where we’ll find Bedloe.”

“What? Where?”

“John Steinbeck titles. The missing book is _East of Eden_. There’s a little chapel in a village about four miles east of here. It only gets used occasionally, and it’s called Eden Chapel.”

“Can you get us there?”

“It shouldn’t be a problem.”

Lucas directed Adam, getting him to slow down a couple of times to check the signposts when they reached crossroads. 

After about ten minutes they reached the village and Lucas said, “It’s there. On the right.”

“There’s some cars park a little further down the road, I’ll pull up behind them,” Adam replied. “I’d rather we didn’t announce our presence if we can avoid it.”

Adam stopped the car and they got out and crossed over the road. The house before the chapel had a thick hedge, and they kept close to it as they cautiously approached the building. From there they slipped round to the back of the chapel. 


	44. Wednesday Early Morning (Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Eventually

A side door stood open and they could hear the sound of voices coming from inside.

They crept closer and Lucas whispered, “That’s Bedloe and I think the other is the bookseller, Reilly.”

The two men appeared to be arguing. They heard Reilly say, “No, it’s too risky. We leave now. You’ve got the details, you can contact the others in a few days, when this has died down.”

Bedloe replied angrily, “We can’t do that. If we wait even twenty-four hours the operation will need to be put back six months, maybe a year.”

“But better that way, and we pull it off eventually, than we do it now with the possibility, a fairly high possibility, of failure.”

“I have invested so much of my time and effort over the last three years I am not seeing it fall apart now.”

While this argument was going on, Adam and Lucas had taken out their guns and were preparing to enter the chapel. They were taking no chances with Bedloe now.

They were ready to go in when Reilly said, “I am ordering you to desist.”

A shot rang out, and they heard a body hit the floor. Instantly they were both through the chapel door. Reilly was lying dead and Bedloe was running out of the main door to the chapel, which he slammed behind him.

They ran across the chapel and opened the door, but only in time to see the Discovery driving away at speed.

“Where’s he going?” Adam shouted.

“Bookshop!” Lucas replied.

“I’ll drive. You call it in.”

There was more traffic on the road than they had encountered on the way up to the village. Adam swore, but there was nothing he could do about it. Lucas told Ros about Reilly’s death. Ros groaned, said she would arrange for the police to attend, and warned them again to be careful.

As they came into the town, Lucas said, “We need to avoid the one-way system. Turn right, that’s the baker’s by the way, and then next left and you’ll see the library car park.”

Adam pulled into a parking space and they both got out.

“There’s a cut-through which runs behind the shops. We should be able to get into the bookshop from the rear,” Lucas said.

There was a tall wooden fence which separated the back yards from the cut-through, with high wooden gates to each yard. They tried the gate to the bookshop, but it wouldn’t open, presumably bolted in place. With no alternative, Adam gave Lucas a leg up, so he could climb over and unbolt the gate from inside.

Adam slipped in and said, “Hurry, I think we were spotted.”

Lucas re-bolted the gate and they ran across the yard to the back of the shop.


	45. Wednesday mid-morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: End

The back door was unlocked and cautiously Adam and Lucas made their way inside. They could hear sounds coming from nearby and rounding a corner they saw Bedloe inside what appeared to be a stock room. Bedloe was engrossed with a high-tech machine, and either did not hear them, or chose to ignore them, in favour of whatever he was doing.

“Step away from the machine, and put your hands up,” Adam ordered.

Bedloe pressed a switch and turned, a supercilious smile on his face. One hand moved to his pocket, but Lucas was too quick for him and pulled both hands behind his back, before, with Adam’s help, tying him securely.

“What about that,” Lucas asked indicating the machine, which was still running. “Do we pull the plug?”

Adam took out his phone to contact Ros. They had a brief conversation, before Adam rang off again. “It’s all good,” he told Lucas. “Malcolm’s already tapped into it and is sending a slightly different message. And we can expect a couple of gentlemen to take custody of our prisoner. I’ve told them to use the backdoor.”

About ten minutes later, they heard knocking from the front. Adam said, “I told Ros to make sure they came to the back door.”

“It’s not for us,” Lucas replied. He indicated a screen which was showing a feed from the front door. “I think a couple of customers want to come in and are ignoring the ‘Closed’ sign.”

“They’re going to have a long wait then.”

“Maybe I should go and serve them. I’ve always fancied having a bookshop.”

“No, you’ve always fancied having the contents of a bookshop. You wouldn’t want to sell any of the books.” Adam’s phoned buzzed. He glanced at it, and continued, “Time to leave.”

They hauled Bedloe to his feet and dragged him through the building and across the yard. He struggled but was no match for his two captors. Adam unbolted the back gate and they pushed Bedloe into the arms of the two men who had come for him.

“Good,” Adam said. “I’m glad to see the back of him. Right, Malcolm has asked us to dismantle the machine as he wants to have a look at it. After which we can head back to the house, Ros plans to do an initial de-brief now that the case is ended.”

It took a while to ensure the machine was safely dismantled, and carefully packed into a couple of cardboard boxes which had originally held books. Once they had done so, they left the bookshop, each carrying a box.


	46. Wednesday Late Morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Leave

When they arrived back at the house, Lucas went to make them both some coffee, while Adam unloaded the boxes and prepared to phone Ros.

After a few minutes, when Lucas hadn’t reappeared, Adam called out, “Come on! What’s keeping you.”

Lucas came through carrying the coffee, plus a plate full of cheese rolls. “I was hungry,” he mumbled, through a mouthful of breadcrumbs.

“So I see!”

Adam called Ros and put her on speaker. Her first words were, “Harry’s very happy and says you can leave immediately. He’d like you in tomorrow to do a proper debrief.”

“What?” Adam and Lucas chorused.

“It’s all right. I’ve told him you have a whole house to pack up, and I’ll do the initial de-brief now and then we can do a full report at the beginning of next week. I also pointed out you needed to collect Lady Henderson, who, incidentally, expects you at three o’clock sharp, to bring her back to the village, and that she wouldn’t take it kindly if she thought he’d forgotten about her.”

They brought Ros up to date with the final events of the morning, and she told them Malcolm was satisfied he’d got messages to all of the network, which meant it should be easy for the security forces to arrest them. He’d also confirmed that the equipment they had boxed up was making use of the components Hazledene’s company had developed, and which he was keen to have a closer look at.

“There’s one thing I still don’t understand,” Lucas said. “With all this high-tech equipment, why were they using the books in the bookshop window display to pass messages? That seems such an amateur thing to do.”

“And yet it was an integral part,” Ros said. “By using a non-electronic system, it broke the chain, which meant it was almost impossible for anyone to listen in. The idea was Reilly’s, who, you won’t be surprised to hear, wasn’t really called Reilly. He’d been the one to recruit Bedloe to do all the legwork.”

“You sound well-informed,” Adam commented.

“We picked up Apsion late last night, and he’s been singing like the proverbial canary ever since.”

“What about Hazledene?”

“There’s no sign of him. He’s either gone to ground or already out of the country. Although it’s also possible someone may already have silenced him. And so, gentlemen, unless there’s anything else you think I should know I’ll leave you to get on with your day. And don’t forget about Lady Henderson!”

“We wouldn’t dare!”


	47. Wednesday Afternoon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Vanilla

Not wishing to be late for Fiona Henderson, Adam and Lucas had left early to allow for any potential holdups on the way. Consequently, it was just after quarter to three when they drew into the car park.

“What do you reckon?” Adam asked. “Do we sit here for the next ten minutes and wait?”

“Not a good idea,” Lucas replied. “I can see her waving to us from the front door. You stay in the car, I’ll go over and carry her bag.”

He walked across the car park to where Fiona was waiting.

“I thought you’d make good time,” she said. “Now, we have a table booked for three o’clock, so if we just pop Harvey into the car with my bag, we can all go for tea.”

They walked back to the car and as Adam opened his door, Lucas said, “We’re having tea first.”

“Don’t worry about Harvey,” Fiona said. “He’s very well behaved and will just go to sleep. And my bag will be quite safe with him.”

Having left Harvey in the car, Adam and Lucas followed Fiona to the tearoom, where they were escorted to a table.

“Now,” Fiona said, “it’s my treat, so what would you like? I shall be having a cream tea myself, but there is an excellent selection of cakes if you would prefer something different.”

“Thank you very much,” Adam said, “I’d like a cream tea too.”

Lucas remained silent, so Fiona said, “What are you thinking?”

“I can’t decide,” he replied. “The vanilla slice looks delicious, but a cream tea would nice.”

“That’s easily solved,” she said. “Have a cream tea now, and I’ll ask them to box up a couple of vanilla slices for you to take back.” With that she indicated to a waitress she was ready to place her order.

Adam and Lucas gave Fiona a brief description of the events since they had left her at the hotel the previous evening, and once they had all finished their tea, they drove her back to her home.

Lucas carried her case back into her house and was pleased to note that there was very little sign of any damage having been done. A few of the flowers looked a bit battered, but Fiona didn’t seem bothered, saying they were nearly over anyway.

As they turned to leave, she said, “It’s been a delight getting to know the two of you. You’re a credit to the service. When do you go back to London?”

“We’ll be leaving tomorrow,” Adam said, “sometime late morning.”

She nodded. “And if you’re ever in the area again, do drop by to say hello.”

“We will,” Lucas said with a smile.

They waved as they drove away, and Adam said, “They don’t make them like that anymore.”

“Maybe not,” Lucas replied. “But I can think of at least one person who might carry on the tradition.”


	48. Wednesday Evening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Trip

“I can’t say I’m disappointed this trip’s over,” Lucas said. He was repacking his books into their boxes, while Adam once again packed their clothes.

“You weren’t taken with a life in the country, then?” Adam replied.

“Not really, no. Disregarding the people who would have happily seen us dead, because that’s an operational hazard, but there wasn’t very much to attract me.”

“It’s very pretty and green, and if we’d been here longer, we could have explored the countryside a bit more.”

“Yes, but that’s not working. One can always have a holiday in the countryside.”

“You did say you liked being able to see the stars.”

“True, but that’s still reliant on good weather. You couldn’t guarantee it.”

“Hmm, what else can I use to tempt you to stay in the country?” Adam said. “There was the butcher and the baker.”

“But no candlestick maker. Not that we needed one. Yes, I shall miss both of them. And I’ll pack up anything we haven’t eaten; I’m not seeing good food going to waste. Actually, I was wondering …”

“You want to buy some bread and meat tomorrow morning to take back with us, don’t you? That’s not such a bad idea. If you go as soon as the shops open and buy things we can freeze when we get home, then why not?”

Lucas smiled. “Great. But what about you? What did you think of our trip to the country?”

“Like you, I wouldn’t want to live here. Our temporary neighbours all seem to spend most of the week out at work and I don’t think it’s anywhere close by the hours they keep. And most of the weekend they were driving places – I think we see more people walking at home than we do here. I can understand Fiona liking the village, no doubt she appreciates the peace now.”

“Even she didn’t seem averse to a little excitement,” Lucas commented.

“True. But I don’t think she’d want to do that every day. And the pub was absolutely dreadful.”

“Don’t remind me. So, what you’re saying is the country is good for a visit, but there’s no way you’d want to live there, until possibly when you retire.”

“Something like that.” Adam stood up and stretched. “Have you finished all your packing?”

Lucas nodded.

“Right. I suggest we get some supper, after which we can move the boxes and bags down ready to load up the car tomorrow and then get some sleep.”

“Just sleep?”

“Yes. I’m knackered and would much rather wait until we get home.”


	49. Thursday morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Home

As soon as Lucas returned from doing the shopping, they packed the car up ready for their return home. Lucas offered to drive, but Adam said that if anyone was going to cope with a footwell containing a large bag of bread, a cool bag full of meat, three tomato plants and the beginnings of a lilac bush, it wasn’t him.

“Some people are just fussy,” Lucas replied, and eased himself into the passenger seat with some difficulty.

Neither spoke much on the journey since both were thinking back over the past week. Although Ros had done an initial debrief, and they had been making notes at the time, there were always things which would suddenly become more significant on further reflection.

Suddenly Lucas spoke up. “Not the best run operation by any stretch of the imagination.”

“No,” Adam agreed. “But there was no way of knowing that attending an early morning church service would precipitate events.”

“Harry will say it’s because I brought the personal into an operation.”

“Lucas, that’s ridiculous. Even Harry would agree he would have expected the three old ladies and a dog.”

“I don’t know. Harvey struck me as being more of a Family Service type of animal.”

Adam laughed. “Quite. And looking on the plus side, no-one anticipated we’d have the assistance of Lady Fiona Henderson, widow of Sir Julian, and a force to be reckoned with.”

Lucas laughed in his turn. “You have a point,” he said and then sighed.

“What’s the matter?” Adam asked.

“The traffic’s heavy and I want to get home.”

“It’s not that much further. I can see the signs for our junction.”

Lucas took out his phone and started looking at it.

“I don’t think you’ll find a quicker way,” Adam said.

“No, I don’t think there is one. I’m reading up on the best place to plant the lilac.”

“I’ll leave you to it, then.”

They both gave a small cheer as they rounded the final bend and saw their house.

“That’s ridiculous,” Adam said. “It’s only eight days since we were last here.”

“I know, but it does feel like longer,” Lucas replied. “But at least it wasn’t the three months we thought it might be. I imagine you’ll want to unpack before we have lunch.”

“Let’s get the stuff out of the car but leave the real unpacking until after we’ve eaten. I’ve driven all the way home being assailed with the smell of fresh bread, so I’m not going to wait any longer than that.”


	50. Thursday evening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Love

By the evening everything had been unpacked, including Lucas’ books, which were all back in their correct places on the bookshelves. It always amused Adam that it was imperative the books were exactly ordered, whilst Lucas’ clothes were simply pushed into the drawers wherever they would fit.

The tomato plants had been placed in a suitable sunny spot, staked, and watered, and the lilac bush was ready for planting the following day once fertiliser had been bought.

It was a beautiful evening and Adam had poured them both a large glass of wine and brought them out into the garden, where Lucas had set up the two garden chairs.

“We need to get some proper chairs and a table,” Lucas said. “I saw just the thing when we were in that garden centre.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t insist we bought them there and then.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lucas said. “We’d never have got them in the car to bring home.” Adam laughed, and Lucas added, “We should be able to get something similar locally. I could choose them when I go to buy the fertiliser.”

“In which case, I’d better come with you, in case your new-found enthusiasm for gardening means you decide to completely load the car up.”

“Now you come to mention it,” Lucas muttered. “I suppose that was one thing I have brought back from our time in the country. It would be good to do a bit more with the garden. Fiona had a couple of bushes I was rather taken with.”

“You’ve got her contact details. Why don’t you get in touch and ask her whether they’d be suitable for the soil we have here? I’ve no objection so long as it’s easy maintenance, neither of us has the time to do very much gardening.”

“I will do. But not tonight. Tonight I have other plans.”

“Do you really?” Adam grinned.

“Indeed I do. Have I told you lately how much I love you?”

“Mmm. Possibly not in the last couple of days, we have been rather otherwise engaged. But I’m open to being reminded.”

Lucas leaned over and kissed him. “Oh, I’m sure I can do that.”

Adam kissed him back and then said, “Apart from going to the garden centre tomorrow, do you have any other plans?”

“Hmm. Lazy morning, early night?”

“Yeah, definitely. And how about we book that holiday we were talking about?”

“A week away, somewhere quiet, no-one out to kill us? I like that idea. And in the meantime, finish your wine as I believe our very spacious and comfortable bed is calling.”


End file.
